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Rose Polytechnic Institute. 



ADDRESSES 



NAUGURATION AND DEDICATION 



MEMORIAL NOTICES, 



A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 



FIRST ANNUAL CATALOGUE. 




TERRE HAUTE, IND.: 

C. W. BROWN, PRINTER AND BINDER. 
1883. 



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Rose Polytechnic Institute. 



ADDRESSES 



Inauguration and Dedication 



MEMORIAL NOTICES, 



A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 



FIRST AMUAL CATALOGUE. 



TERRE'HAUTE.'.INi). : ' i 

C. W. BROW\"i..PRIN-r£l( A.vr^W^ER.j 

., ,;■' 1883. '^ ^/J 



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List of Illustratiois. 



PORTRAIT OF CHAUNCEY ROSE. 
VIEWS OF BUILDINGS. 
FLOOR PLANS. 



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HISTORICAL. 



[Prepared at the request of the Board of Managers by Samuel S. Early, Sec- 
retary of the Board.] 

The scientific school known as the Rose Polytechnic Institute, 
was founded in 1874, by the munificence of the late Chauncey 
Rose, of Terre Haute. As the honored life of this most gen- 
erous and public spirited gentleman drew near its close, among 
the many benefactions that suggested themselves as deserving 
objects of his liberality was a school in which young men might 
be thoroughly trained in the sciences applicable to the industrial 
"arts. Careful study of the plans and methods of such schools and 
consultation with numerous experienced educators fixed this 
suggestion in his thoughts, and out of his deliberations grew the 
establishment whose first detailed and formal publication of its 
progress and purposes is set forth in the following pages. 

Inviting the assistance of his trusted friends, Messrs. Josephus 
CoUett, Firmin Nippert, Charles R. Peddle, Barnabas C. Hobbs, 
William A. Jones, Demas Deming, Ray G. Jenckes, Gen. Charles 
Cruft and Col. Wm. K. Edwards, he associated them with himself 
in a body corporate, in conformity with an act of the General 
Assembly of the State of Indiana, approved February 20th, 1867, 
and the amendments thereto, said act being entitled '' An Act Con- 
cerning the Organization and Perpetuity of Voluntary Associa- 
tions, and repealing an act entitled ' An Act Concerning the 
Organization of Voluntary Associations, and repealing former 
laws in reference thereto,' approved February 12, 1855, and 
repealing each act repealed by said act, and authorizing gifts and 
devises by will to be made to any corporation or purpose contem- 
plated by this act." 

On the 10th of September, 1874, articles of association were 
adopted, setting forth the objects of the corporation to be the 
establishment and maintenance, in the County of Vigo and State 
of Indiana, of an " institution for the intellectual and practical 
education of young men," designating the corporate name as 
"Terre Haute School of Industrial Science," and entrusting its 
administration to the corporators under the title of managers. 



4 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

Instruction in the school was provided to be based on the prac- 
tical mathematics and the application of the physical sciences to 
the various arts and manufactures, with other branches of active 
business, and was to include such training as would furnish the 
pupils with useful and practical knowledge of some art or occupa- 
tion, and enable them to earn competent livings. Preference was 
to be given to students who were residents of Vigo county, moder- 
ate tuition fees were permitted to be charged, if considered neces- 
sary, and applicants for admission were reC[uired to be not less 
than sixteen years of age, and to be so prepared as to pass satis- 
factory examinations in the branches of a fair English education. 
On October 10th, 1874, the Board of Managers was organized, 
by-laws were adopted, and the following officers elected : 

President Chauncey Rose. 

Vice-President . . . Josephus Collett. 

Treasurer Demas Deming. 

Secretary William K. Edwards. 

At the same time a committee, comprising Messrs. Cruft, 
Peddle, Hobbs, Jones and Collett, was appointed to consider 
plans for carrying into effect the objects of the association. 

On the 12th of December the committee reported progress, 
and Messrs. Peddle, Cruft and Jenckes were deputed to confer 
with an architect. One week . thereafter Mr, Rose made his first 
donation, being a deed of conveyance of the ten acres of land now 
occupied by the Institute, and personal securities to the amount 
of $100,000. The committee on architect reported conferences 
with Mr. Isaac Hodgson, of Indianapolis. 

December 26th Mr. Hodgson was elected architect, and Mr. 
Rose made a further gift of 186,000 in bonds of the Evansville, 
Terre Haute & Chicago Railroad Company. 

By the end of January, 1875, the architect had prepared sug- 
gestive sketches, which were submitted to the consideration of Mr. 
Rose, and having met his approval, were adopted by the Board of 
Managers, and detailed drawings^ with specifications and estimates 
of cost, were ordered to be prepared. These being in readiness by 
the latter part of April, on the 21st of that month they were 
accepted, and proposals for building were ordered to be solicited. 
Early in May a number of bids had been received and, after due 
consideration, a contract for the entire building was awarded to 
Messrs. McCormack & Sweeney, of Columbus, Indiana, at the total 
price of $81,000. On the^th of August, all preliminaries in the 



EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 5 

way of gathering materials, executing bonds and contracts, and 
the like, having been accomplished, Messrs. C. R. Peddle, Josephus 
Collett, and Charles Cruft, were elected a building committee, and 
Messrs. Cruft, Jenckes, Nippert and Edwards were chosen as a 
committee on the laying of the corner-stone. 

On the 11th of the following month the ceremony of laying 
the corner-stone took place, at 4 o'clock p. m. An immense con- 
course of citizens of Terre Haute, and visiting strangers, marched 
in procession from the center of the city to the grounds of the 
School, to witness the exercises, over which Gen. Charles Cruft 
presided, by request of the Board. When the company had been 
called to order, prayer was offered by Rev. E. Frank Howe, pastor 
of the First Congregational Church, and a choir of mixed voices 
sang a selection. The corner-stone was laid by the architect, 
assisted by the contractors and their workmen, a metal box with 
numerous interesting memorials of the occasion being deposited 
therein. The president of the day then introduced Col. William 
K. Edwards, who delivered an appropriate and eloquent address. 
A second musical selection was sung by the choir, and was fol- 
lowed by a masterly oration by Barnabas C. Hobbs, LL. D. The 
benediction, by Rev. Mr. Howe, closed the exercises. 

On the same day a meeting of the Board of Managers was 
held, and unanimously passed amendments to the articles of 
incorporation, which changed the name of the association from 
" Terre Haute School of Industrial Science " to " Rose Polytechnic 
Institute." This alteration was not effected without persistent 
protest from the venerable founder: but the universal wish, not 
alone of his fellow-managers, but of the. entire community of his 
fellow-citizens, that his noble benefaction should bear his own 
honored name, at length overcame his modest scruples, and he 
reluctantly gave his consent. Proper legal measures were also 
authorized to effect the transfer of the property of all kinds that 
had been received from Mr. Rose, from the Industrial School to 
the Polytechnic Institute. 

The work of construction progressed apace, and by the sum- 
mer of 1876 had proceeded so far that questions of purchasing 
appliances for heating the building began to suggest themselves. 
Proposals to furnish the requisite fixtures were invited, and 
in July the contract to supply them was awarded to Messrs. 
R. P. Duncan & Co., of Indianapolis, at a cost of $8,759.00. 
In November of 1876 the contractors for the building had com- 



6 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

pleted their work in accordance with the plans and specifica- 
tions of the architect, and had added, with his approval, certain 
matters amounting in the aggregate to $1,700.00. This sum was 
allowed them, and on the 1st of December the final warrant for 
their payment was drawn, the total cost of construction being 
$82,700.00. 

On the 27th of December Mr. Rose presented a statement of 
certain payments he had made for the benefit of the School, 
amounting to $31,255.66, with quittance in full thereof, and at the 
same time transferred the sum of $100,000 in certificates of pre- 
ferred stock in the Evansville & Crawfordsville Railroad Company, 
as an addition to the endowment. 

At the annual meeting, held on the 2d of June, 1877, Mr. Rose 
tendered his resignation as a member of the Board of Managers, in 
consideration of his great age and infirmities. In deference to his 
wishes, his fellow-members accepted it, but most unwillingly. Mr. 
Josephus Collett was elected to succeed him as President of the 
Board, and Mr. Charles R. Peddle was chosen as Vice-President. 
During the same month a contract for the building of the 
machine shops of the Institute (designs for which had been pre- 
pared by Mr. Hodgson) was awarded to Messrs. Clift & Williams, 
of Terre Haute; at a cost of $14,400.00. Mr. Rose died on the 
13th of August, 1877, and on the 17th of October the vacancy 
occasioned by his resignation was filled by the election of Mr. 
William Mack. 

The total of Mr. Rose's gifts to the Institute, prior to his 
death, reached the sum of $345,614.61, and embraced the follow- 
ing items: 

Value of ten acres of land (site of the School) . . . . ^ 20,000.00 

First gift of securities 100,000.00 

Second gift of securities 86,000.00 

Quittance for moneys paid by him 31.255.66 

Third gift of securities 100,000.00 

Paid by him on account of heating apparatus .... 8,150.00 

" " for grading and gravelling 208.95 

By his will a specific legacy of $107,594.34 was bequeathed to 
the Institute, and it was constituted his residuary legatee after the 
payment of his devises to his family, to the Rose Orphan Home 
and the Free Dispensary. What may be the exact amount to be 
derived from the settlement of the estate it is impossible to deter- 
mine, but it is reasonable to estimate that the grand aggregate of 
his donations to the school will considerably exceed $500,000.00. 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 7 

On the 26th of September, 1878, Col. Wm. K. Edwards, who 
had most ably and efficiently discharged the duties of Secre- 
tary of the Board of Managers from its organization, died, and 
Mr. Samuel S. Early was chosen, on the 2d of November, to suc- 
ceed him as a member of the Board and as Secretary. Toward the 
-close of that year the Machine Shops were finished, and some 
debts, which had been incurred in the various works of construc- 
tion, were paid. The question then arose whether, with the 
means remaining at their command, the Managers could purchase 
the costly equipment required for the School, and have sufficient 
income to cover its running expenses, should it be put in opera- 
tion. Committees and officers of the Board were deputed to visit 
the principal institutes of technology in the country, and make 
careful investigations concerning their appliances, methods of man- 
agement and cost of maintenance. From these investigations it 
became evident that it would be impossible to procure the outfit 
without a serious impairment of the capital proposed to be 
retained as endowment, and at the same time, that, even after 
the acquisition of the equipment, the endowment fund, as it stood, 
would not furnish revenues sufficient for the current outlay of a 
school of the character Mr. Rose had desired to establish. There 
was no alternative, therefore, but for the Managers to defer the 

■ opening until accumulated income should supply funds for the 

■ outfit, and the settlement of Mr. Rose's estate should place at their 

■ disposal such portions of their legacy from him as would swell 
their permanent resources to the required amount. It was not 
until the beginning of 1882 that these results had been approxi- 
mately attained. By that time the executors of Mr. Rose were 

■ enabled to pay the specific bequest — for the greater part in cash 
and productive investments, with the remainder in valuable real 
estate — and accrued interest had so far grown as to provide a basis 
for the purchase of equipment. 

Pending this delay, some further changes had occurred in 
the personnel of the Board. The prolonged absence in Europe 
. of Dr. B. C. Hobbs, as a member of the World's Peace Congress, 
and the removal to Mt. Vernon of Mr. R. G. Jenckes, led 
to the withdrawal of both those gentlemen in January, 1879, 
and on the 31st of that month Messrs. Robert S. Cox and 
Preston Hussey were elected to fill their places. Trusty 
■custodians had been appointed to care for and protect the 
! buildings, and small outlays made from time to time for books. 



8 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

apparatus and specimens for the cabinet. Diligent inquiry 
had continued to be prosecuted also into the availability of candi- 
dates for the professorships of the faculty, and a number of emi- 
nent educators had been invited to visit Terre Haute and confer 
with the Managers upon the future organization and conduct of 
the School. Prominent among these had been Dr. Charles 0. 
Thompson, Principal of the Free Institute of Technology, at 
Worcester, Mass., Prof Wm. D. Marks, of the University of 
Pennsylvania, Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, of the Ohio State University, 
and Prof F. W. Clarke, of the University of Cincinnati, from all 
of whom most valuable counsel and suggestions and hearty 
encouragement had been obtained. 

Finding themselves, by the receipt of the specific legacy, pos- 
sessed of funds which yielded an income of about 125,000.00, the 
managers felt that the time had come when they might take the 
necessary measures for opening the Institute. Their first import- 
ant step was the election of Dr. Charles 0. Thompson, of Wor- 
cester, Mass., to the Presidency of the faculty. This occurred on 
the 20th of February, 1882, and the President of the Board, with 
the Secretary and Gen. Charles Cruft, visited Worcester for a 
personal conference with Dr. Thompson. Toward the end of 
March he accepted the appointment, and immediately began the 
work of selecting a faculty and preparing a detailed plan for the 
organization of the School. Professors of chemistry, of elementary 
and the higher mathematics, and of drawing, and the Superin- 
tendent of the Machine Shops, were chosen and accepted. Those 
whose services were necessary reported for duty so soon as their 
prior engagements admitted, and by the end of the summer of 1882 
great progress had been made in the work of preparation. It was 
found that a small class could be provided for by the beginning 
of March, 1883, and in August of 1882 circulars were published 
inviting applications for admission. An opportunity for the 
purchase of the apparatus and library of the late Dr. John 
Bacon, of Harvard College, was availed of by the Board, and a 
most admirable collection of instruments and of scientific books 
was added to the resources of the School. Power, machinery, and 
tools for the Shop were purchased by Mr. Edward S. Cobb, the 
Superintendent, under the sanction of a committee composed of 
Messrs. Peddle, Nippert and Cox, cases for the mineralogical speci- 
mens were constructed, after the plans of Prof Charles A. Colton, 
of the Department of Chemistry, and the elegant collection was 



^ . ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 9 

mounted, labeled and stored under his skilled labors. Shelving 
for the library, designed by Prof. Clarence A. Waldo, the future 
librarian, was provided, and the early purchases of the Board and 
the Bacon library were catalogued by the Secretary and arranged 
by members of the faculty. Large additions to the library and 
apparatus were made by President Thompson, who had sailed for 
Europe, in July of 1882, for study of the methods and progress of 
technological instruction in the more advanced schools abroad. 
Tables, easels, models, in brief, all the required appliances for the 
department of drawing, were procured upon the suggestions of 
Prof William L. Ames, of that department, and, by the time 
anticipated, everything was in readiness for the opening. On the 
6th of March candidates for admission were examined, and a class 
of twenty-five members selected from the most proficient. 



I 




;i g 



INAUGURAL EXERCISES. 



Arrangements for the inauguration were made by Gen. Charles Cruft 
and Messrs. William Mack and Eobert S. Cox, a committee appointed for 
the purpose. On Wednesday, March 7th, 1883, at 10 o'clock a. m., the cer- 
emonies were held, in the chapel of the Institute, in the presence of one of 
the largest audiences ever assembled in the city of Terre Haute. The stage 
and auditorium of the chapel were crowded to overflowing, and a multi- 
tude filled the halls and corridors of the academic building. The stage and 
and speakers' stand were beautifully decorated with flowers and potted 
plants, contributed by Mrs. Sarah A. Heminway, a cousin of Mr. Rose, and, 
for many of the declining years of his life, the head of his family. On the 
President's table an exquisite floral ornament represented the taste and 
liberality of Mr. Firmin Nippert, and at the extreme right of the platform, 
a fine India ink portrait of Mr. Rose, executed by Brady, of New York, 
was wreathed with garlands of smilax. 

The stage was occupied by the Board of Managers, the Faculty of the 
Institute, the speakers of the day, a number of the leading educators of 
the State, and many prominent citizens of Indiana and other States. 
Among them were Hon. R. W. Thompson, LL.D., and Gen. John Eaton, 
United States Commissioner of Education, who were the invited speakers ; 
Prof. John M. Bloss, Superintendent of Public Instruction ; Hons. George 
I. Reed, Murray Briggs, Joseph Gilbert, and Barnabas C. Hobbs, LL.D., of 
the State Normal School Board ; President Lemuel Moss, of the State •Uni- 
versity ; President Emerson E. White, of Purdue University ; Mayor Jas. 
B. Lyne, of Terre Haute; Hon. John E. Lamb, M. C; Monsieur Louis 
Genis, Ing. Civ., and Eleve of the Royal Polytechnic School of Belgium ; 
John R. Elder, of Indianapolis, formerly one of the Normal Trustees ; 
President George P. Brown and Prof. E. F. Brown, of the Normal Faculty ; 
Superintendent Wiley, Prof. Byers and Prof. Donaldson, of the city school 
staff; R.A.Morris and J. W. Landrum, City School Trustees; John F. 
Roedel, John DeBaun, and John Wilson, County Commissioners ; Hon. W. 
R. McKeen, and Prof. J. H. Cooper, Superintendent of the Evansville 
Public Schools. 

Promptly at the appointed hour. President Josephus Collett, of the 
Board of Managers, who presided on the occasion, called the assemblage to 
order, and the exercises began with music by Prof. Breinig's orchestra, 
after which the following prayer was offered by Rev. C. Pitman Croft, Pas- 
tor of the First Congregational Church : 

PRAYER BY CHARLES PITMAN CROFT. 

Thou Eternal God, whose way is in the heavens, whose 
infinite wisdom is manifest in all the earth, whose truth is the 
foundation of the world, whose light and life have been given to 



12 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

all men through all generations, we bow before Thee in grateful 
acknowledgment of all Thy gracious goodness unto us. We thank 
Thee for a world of brightness and helpfulness ; for all our advan- 
tages and developments and inspirations. 

We thank Thee for our own free and happy land, redeemed 
from anarchy and superstition, and won to us by the heroism and 
blood of godly sires; for our rich valleys and flowing rivers and 
great lakes — the thoroughfares of a gigantic commerce; for our 
mountains of silver and gold, and our mines of inexhaustible treas- 
ures. We thank Thee for the prosperity that has attended us ; for 
the love of liberty that has made and preserved us as a nation ; for 
peace within our borders ; for all our institutions of learning ; for 
the encouragement that has been given to art and science and lit- 
erature and free thought; for all the means used to elevate the 
human race. We rejoice that we live in this good time, with our 
manifold opportunities. We remember with gratitude the men 
who have given their thought and energy and wealth for the 
world's benefit. We reap to-day the results of another's labor, and 
are permitted to enter into his plans. 

With grateful emotions we remember our city's benefactor, 
whose name is on our lips at this hour — "being dead he yet speak- 
eth." We behold these institutes about us, and rejoice in the evi- 
dence of an unselfish manhood. We thank Thee for the spirit of 
noble generosity that animated him — that led him to deeds of 
grace among us ; for the help his munificence has brought to the 
poor of our city, for the hungry that have been fed, for the naked 
that have been clothed. 

May there be more of this unselfish giving. May men realize 
the vast responsibility of wealth — the responsibility of education, 
of position, of power of any sort, and so dedicate themselves to the 
high and holy service of doing good. We thank Thee for this glad 
hour, which has within it rich prophecies of coming blessings to 
our city and our state. May this institution be a bright and 
shining light in all this broad West. Give wisdom to him who is 
placed here as its head. May his broad culture and eminent 
fitness make him a power over the young men in his charge. 
Regard all who are associated with him in the work of tuition and 
training, and from these halls may there go forth an army of strong 
and well equipped young men who shall take their places in the 
front ranks of earnest workers. May Thy wisdom be given to the 
guardians of this institution, and for all their toil and solicitude 



KOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 13 

and patient investigation may they have a rich reward in seeing 
the prosperity of their enterprise. 

Regard our city in mercy. Crown our commonwealth with 
the tokens of Thy favor. Give to Thy servant, our governor, plen- 
tiful wisdom amid his arduous duties — strength to rebuke evil 
and courage to advance the right. May the President of these 
United States, and all associated with him in authority, be guided 
by divine wisdom, strengthened by divine grace, and may this 
administration be one of justice and of power. Let righteousness 
and peace reign within our borders. Let education and religion 
join hands in the common work of redeeming l^his world from 
ignorance and vice. And so may we go on to a still grander time, 
and Thy kingdom come in all the land. Amen. 

The President then introduced Hon. E. W, Thompson, who delivered 
the following address: 

ADDRESS OF HON. R. W. THOMPSON. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : So little time has been 
allowed me to prepare for this occasion that I have not been able 
to exclude entirely from my mind the thoughts which ordinarily 
occupy it, and which are alien to those pertaining to this institu- 
tion. Nevertheless, I have not felt myself at liberty to withhold 
whatsoever contribution it is in my power to make toward the 
success of its inauguration. 

This institution is destined to fill a place hitherto unoccupied 
in this State and in the West. It should be viewed, therefore, 
with especial favor and pride by the citizens of this city, not only 
because it will become the central point from which valuable edu- 
cational influences are expected to radiate, but because it had its 
origin in the mind of one of our most eminent citizens, and is 
so endowed by his magnificent liberality as to insure its complete 
success.- We can not do too much honor to the memory of a man 
who, with unsurpassed liberality, rounded off a long life of 
assiduous industry by devoting his wealth to this and other 
benevolent enterprises, calculated to benefit society, alleviate suf- 
fering, and give fresh impulse to ennobling thoughts. Such a 
man, with philanthropic and charitable purposes like these, does 
far more to make humanity better and happier than those whose 
brows bear the crowns of royalty. His example is worth infin- 
itely more than any set by those who are born to rank, or who 
climb into it through the slime of corruption — falsely imagining, 
when they reach it, that they have thereby added increase to their 



14 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

stature. The highest §arthly glory which any of us can achieve is 
to construct a monument for ourselves, which shall rise towards 
the heavens with the motto of " Good Works " graven upon its 
apex. Such a monument will outlive those of brass or marble, and 
the glittering of gold, or of the diamond, does not so charm the 
eye, as the remembrance of it enlivens the heart of mankind. 

There is no country in the world where education is more 
important, both to society and individuals, than it is in our own. 
It is important to society because our institutions are based upon 
intelligence and virtue, and can not survive their loss ; and to the 
individual, because by moulding his own personality and creating 
his own character, he adds to the sum of human happiness and 
prosperity by contributing to the general welfare. A people 
insensible to these considerations, from whatsoever cause — 
whether from necessity or inclination — are utterly incapable of 
rising above the condition of serfdom, and readily become the 
victims of the worst forms of oppression. Ignorance is, and has 
always been, the parent of vice, bearing a numerous and destruct- 
ive progeny. Unrestrained vice fills the social atmosphere with 
darkness, which leaves no place for the light to enter. History 
abounds in such examples, and we would be left without excuse 
if, with these before us, we should turn back toward the old 
grooves from which the groans of ignorant and superstitious mul- 
titudes came forth for so many centuries. 

There is a public sentiment in all American communities 
which places them on the side of liberal education. We see this 
everywhere, and derive from it a degree of consolation and encour- 
agement which assures us of a future whereupon no cloud shall 
rest, but which shall extend its influence to the remote places of 
the earth. In this great work we have a broad field of operations 
before us, and must not forget what weighty responsibilities we 
bear. As a most important part of the great English-speaking 
peoples of the world, we have hitherto shown how earnestly we 
appreciated the fact that the work we have to do gives no room 
for laggards. And at every step we take in advance, we can not 
fail to realize how important it is that, among the soldiers who 
compose the army of progress, there should be no rear rank ; and 
that when the goal is reached we shall belong to those who march 
in the front. 

The desire for intellectual enlightenment has become one of 
the most conspicuous, as it undoubtedly is one of the grandest, 



KOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 15 

sentiments of this age — worth far more than any we have inher- 
ited from the earlier or even from the classical ages. It requires a 
retrospect of only a few years to see how much we h-ave contrib- 
uted toward the creation of this sentiment. It is within the mem- 
ory of some of us when, not only were the nations far apart and 
without any community of interest or opinions, and, therefore, 
without any basis for harmony, but when portions of our own 
country were so far separated that they were, to each other, " terra 
incognita." But, mainly by the inventive and constructive genius 
of our own people, has this been changed. We are now brought 
into the immediate presence of facts hitherto unknown, and which 
cause us to live within the period of a few years what was almost 
a whole century to the former ages. When Fulton and Rumsey 
harnessed down steam with " iron bands," and Franklin chained 
the lightning, and Morse taught it how to speak, the nations drew 
closer together and began to experience that thrilling emotion 
which influences us " to feel each others' woe," and thereby makes 
" all the world akin." 

And not only has inventive and constructive genius done 
this — it has also aided the cause of science, literature, and the arts, 
by means of the steam printing press, which enables those who 
are engaged in these pursuits to make the civilized world their 
audience. It has lessened the labor of the farmer, the mechanic, 
and the artisan, by the introduction of machinery which has the 
delicate touch of the human finger, and an adaptability for almost 
every possible want. It has invaded the privacy of our domestic 
households, and placed within our reach every utgnsil which our 
minutest necessities require. And it has increased the vigor and 
added to the industry of the advancing nations, so that they have 
become emulous rivals of each other in the work of improving the 
condition of mankind. 

Nothing deserves our admiration more than the genius which 
provided these grand results ; and that system of education which 
shall incite it to yet higher and bolder flights, by opening the field 
for new discoveries and inventions, possesses a value which can 
not be computed. I do not stop now to speak of other methods 
of education — of those furnished by our universities, colleges, 
academies, and common schools. Each of these has its own work 
to do, and an orbit of its own within which to move. Combined, 
they make up a system of education absolutely indispensable ; — 
without which the professions could not be supplied, literature 



16 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

would become effeminate, art would deteriorate, industrial pursuits 
be paralyzed, commerce be withdrawn from the seas, and the reign 
of ignorance and vice would set in. 

The system of education to which I desire more especially to 
refer, is that which is about to be inaugurated in this institution. • 
A polytechnic school is one wherein the physical sciences are 
taught, in order that a familiarity with nature may be acquired, 
and her wonderful laws understood. It has its controlling idea in 
the fact that the objects of nature are susceptible of scientific 
analysis ; and, starting at this point, as its initial step, it deals with 
these objects until all their qualities are perceived, their capacity 
for combination observed, and their uses ascertained. It is not 
content to witness merely the effect produced by natural laws, but 
seeks to comprehend the methods of their operations, so that exist- 
ing results may be ascertained and new ones worked out. The 
necessity for this method of education is perfectly apparent. We 
see, every day, the effects of natural laws without comprehending 
how they are produced. The object of this school is to furnish the 
means of solving these problems, which, to us, are so mysterious, 
and to make us, not only familiar with natural objects, but enable 
us so to employ and combine them as to produce artificial results 
beneficial to mankind. We all know that ships are propelled 
through the sea, that trains of cars are drawn over mountains, that 
machinery is moved, and that water is lifted from the earth, by 
steam. We have become so accustomed to these things that they 
seem to have come to us as a matter of course, and without any 
effort on the part of inventive and constructive genius to produce 
them. Yet, who can tell how many hours of weary labor were 
spent, how many sad disappointments were encountered, in their 
pursuit, and how much deep study and reflection preceded the 
achievement of these wonderful results? They are accomplished 
facts now, and as such are familiar to everybody ; but I can well 
remember the time when the foretelling of them was regarded as 
delusion. They were not produced merely by the teaching of the 
classics, by familiarity with the dead languages, by literary culture, 
by the solution of mathematical and algebraical problems, or by 
the special and scientific culture of universities,, colleges, acade- 
mies and common schools. From these an amount of general 
intelligence has been derived which exhibits its beneficial results 
in a thousand ways throughout all the departments of society. 
But these have not pointed in the direction of discoveries in 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 17 

physical science or mechanical inventions. They point rather to 
conspicuous places, in public or private life, which are likely to 
assure the approbation and applause of the world. Whereas, 
those wonderful results which have already startled the world, and 
such others as are startling it afresh every day, have reached their 
development in quiet and retired places, away from the gaze of the 
public, and unknown entirely except to those whose mechanical 
skill it is necessary to employ. General and classical education 
have lifted the mind to a high intellectual plane, but have not 
produced such fruits as have been borne by the grand harvest of 
invention. For these we are indebted to that adventurous, and at 
the same time, inspiring genius, which leads its possessors out into 
the great store-house of nature, where, becoming familiar with its 
wonderful laws, it has been enabled to surmount difficulties in the 
presence of which the most refined literary learning, the most 
acute philosophical perception, the highest professional skill, and 
even the most entrancing eloquence, all stand abashed. The 
system of polytechnic teaching penetrates the arcana of nature, 
among which, scattered here and there in promiscuous heaps, 
there lie innumerable things which it gathers up for practical use, 
and which, without it, would be of little or no value to the world. 
I do not pretend, to scientific or accurate classification, but if 
allowed, I would say that this system furnishes the focus of con- 
centration for science and art — the point where they blend in har- 
monious accord, as the scattered rays of the sun are gathered by 
the convex lens. We call this point technology, not because it is 
a science by itself, but because it seizes upon and appropriates the 
truths and demonstrations of all the sciences, of all art, and so 
directs and moulds them into harmony, that new combinations 
may occur, new results be wrought out, and new incentives to 
genius be created. The universities, colleges, academies and com- 
mon schools, furnish us with the elementary and fundamental 
principles, which the science of technology, in the polytechnic 
school, fashions into every practical result, of which, by possibility, 
they are susceptible. They go out into the woods and fields, upon 
the mountains, down into the sea and the mines, and classify the 
timbers, and the soils, and the minerals, and the sea shells, and 
the animal remains and the plants, even so far back as the pre- 
historic times ; and technology avails itself of all this in order to 
demonstrate the multitude of uses to which this vast accumulation 
of natural materials may be applied. They ascertain the diff'erence 



18 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

between the centrifugal and centripetal forces, — that is, that the 
one flies from and the other is drawn to the center, — and tech- 
nology, availing itself of the discovery, so constructs the governor 
of the steam engine as to demonstrate the former by the revolu- 
tions of the shaft, and the latter by arresting its velocity. They 
teach that a vacuum is an empty space, and technology makes it 
practically appear that the impelling force in the condensing 
engine is produced by the difference between the pressure of the 
steam above and the pressure of the vacuum below the piston. 
They instruct us that there are single-acting, rotative, and rotatory 
engines; and technology steps in to assure us which is the best for 
the purposes designed, by showing how a rotative motion is pro- 
duced, and how the position is changed from a rectilinear into a 
circular motion. We learn from them the elementary constituents 
of fuels, and that there must be a development of heat and light 
to produce combustion; and technology comes to our aid by 
instructing us whether the single or double-acting engine is most 
suited to force air into furnaces for smelting iron. They point out 
to us that carbon and hydrogen are the chief combustible constit- 
uents of fuel, and that their chemical combination with the oxy- 
gen of the atmosphere is the source of heat; and technology 
designs, at once, a method by which to ascertain how many cubic 
feet of steam of the atmospheric pressure can be produced by a 
cubic inch of water ; how steam expands, contracts, and acts upon 
the valves of an engine ; how it may be put on and shut off from 
the cylinder, whether at or before the end of the stroke ; when the 
exhaust passage for its escape from the engine should be opened ; 
and how the thousand other matters of detail necessary to create 
and control this powerful element bear relation to each other and 
to that wonderful piece of machinery known as the steam engine, 
— the great revolutionizer of the age. And thus the science of 
technology, although mainly derivative in its character, has 
become one of the most important of the sciences, because there 
are demands, every day, for new inventions, new combinations of 
materials, and new enterprises, so that the world, as it grows older, 
may show no signs of decrepitude, but keep on in the steady 
course of its progress, until, among the great brotherhood of 
nations, there shall be no discord, and, among all the peoples of 
the earth, happiness shall be within the reach of all, and universal 
peace shall prevail. 

There is therefore no antagonism, or room for it, between 



EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 19 

existing educational institutions and a polytechnic school like this. 
They belong to the same family, draw inspiration from the same 
fountain, and should dwell together in concord around the same 
altar. They are twin sisters. Technology does not repudiate 
the abstract sciences. On the contrary, it recognizes their dem- 
onstrations and applies their truths. It takes them up at the point 
where they have reached their highest theoretical development, 
and causes them to serve practical and indispensable uses — to the 
production of results which would otherwise remain unknown. 
It is such an auxiliary as the abstract sciences should- seek 
after, so that, neither repelling the other, the two should consti- 
tute a harmonious whole. And it is because this feature in our 
system of education will be exhibited in the progress of this insti- 
tution, that it commends itself, in an eminent degree, to the public 
approbation. The public need the existence of such a school, and 
are to be congratulated upon its establishment under existing aus- 
pices. In view of its origin, its location, the character of our peo- 
ple, the sagacity of its managers, and the eminent fitness of its 
faculty, I may be allowed to say, as we sometimes do of individ- 
uals, that it is the right school in the right place. • 

Why may we not assure to ourselves the advantages which 
others have enjoyed from technological teaching in polytechnic 
schools? France, under whose national auspices they were first 
established, less than a century ago, with a view chiefly to the 
education of civil and military engineers, has been greatly bene- 
fitted by them. They have enabled her engineers to occupy posi- 
tions in the front rank among the most distinguished in the world. 
These, by thorough explorations, have succeeded in mapping out 
with great particularity, all her material and natural resources. 
By this means, and by the scientific classification of her soils, and 
her mineral and vegetable products, she has been enabled to 
understand the nature and extent of her own resources, and to 
shape her policy and industries so as to develop them to the 
utmost. Her wonderful success in this is seen in the facts that 
wealth and the means of subsistence are more equally distributed 
in France than in any other European state, and that almost every 
foot of earth is made to contribute to the prosperity of a people to 
whom emigration is not necessary, as in neighboring nations, in 
order to better their material condition. 

Our natural resources are many hundred fold in excess of those 
of France. One only of our states, out of thirty-eight, contains 



20 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

70,000 square miles more of territory, and our whole area is more 
than seventeen times greater. There is not a single natural pro- 
duct to he found within the degrees of latitude that mark our 
extent which we do not possess. They are scattered about in 
every direction in rich profusion — here, there, and everywhere. 
Already has their development astonished the world, and ourselves 
also ; and what we shall need in the future is to see that nothing 
shall occur to arrest or check it, but, on the contrary, that every- 
thing shall be done to accelerate its progress. 

We have occupations enough for all — fields of adventure and 
enterprise widening out every day — inducements for the employ- 
ment of our best energies and our most ennobling faculties. Our 
whole population is thirsting for knowledge, in all the varieties of 
its forms. They read more books, and magazines, and newspapers, 
than any other people. These great educators are tireless in the 
work of enlightenment, and he who does not learn something 
every day may well exclaim,' like the Roman Emperor, '^ perdidi 
diem — " I have lost a day ! Our young men are standing ready, 
with the courage of veteran soldiers, panting to leap to the front 
whensoever any adversary to our progress, material or intellectual, 
shall appear. They have the right to demand that those of us 
who are passing away, and whose places they will soon fill, 
that we shall not withhold from them the proper weapons with 
which to carry on the battle of life — a battle that will require 
all the courage and fortitude they can command. 

Among the weapons for this conflict none are so effective in 
the production of good results as enlightened intelligence, which 
enables its possessor to appreciate the character and importance of 
passing events, and to derive wisdom from their teachings. 

It was thus that the founder of this institution reasoned in 
his lifetime. He was anxious that the young men of this state, 
and especially those of this vicinity, should not fall behind in anj'- 
sphere of duty to which they might be called. And, desiring 
them to perform their share in the great work of the future, he 
established this school as the means of enabling them to do it 
manfully and well. It is a gift to the country, and a legacy to 
them, worth more than gold. It is a priceless inheritance. Who 
can measure the extent of the good it is destined to accomplish ? 
Who can tell what shall be the extent of its contributions 
towards such a material development of this country as shall com- 
pare with that produced, by like means, in France? We know 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 21 

now that its first steps are well taken, and in the right direction 
towards complete success ; and the character and qualities of those 
who manage its affairs, give the best assurance that this success 
will be won. Then, if it shall be allowed by Providence that the 
spirit of its generous founder shall look back upon the scenes of 
this life, his immortal soul will exult at the thought that his 
methods of diffusing beneficent influences amongst men were 
well conceived, and have been faithfully executed. 

MEMORIAL NOTICE OF CHAUNCEY ROSE. 

It is appropriate to this occasion that I add a few words with 
special reference to Chauncey Rose, without whose generous-hearted 
liberality these ceremonies could not have transpired. Like a few 
others in this audience, my personal intercourse with him em- 
braced a period of more than the third of a century. During this 
time I had many opportunities to observe his leading characteris- 
tics, and to become familiar with the structure of his mind and the 
tendency of his thoughts. He was emphatically self-made, and 
owed nothing to the mere adventitious circumstances of life. 
Having commenced life without the favors of fortune, one of the 
first lessons he learned was self-reliance, from which grew that in- 
domitable courage which constituted one of the most conspicuous 
elements of his character. His character, therefore, was his own 
creation, and was well and symmetrically built up. It was moulded 
in an important degree by the incidents of a frontier life with 
which he participated. He became a citizen of this county about 
two years after the state constitution was formed, and the year in 
which this city was selected as the county seat. The population, 
at that time, was very small, and I know of but two now living in 
Terre Haute who were then here. The fact that he sought the ad- 
venture of a country entirely new, and was willing to contend 
against its hardships, which were numerous and scarcely con- 
ceived of by the present population, was proof that he was cour- 
ageous. He had many occasions, in the course of a long life, to 
exhibit this quality, and I am quite sure that, upon none of them, 
was he ever known to fall below its requirements. I do not mean 
mere animal courage, but that of a higher and nobler type — such 
as is the product of honest and intelligent convictions. This may 
be justly said to have been the base upon which the whole struc- 
ture of his character was built, and it enabled him, upon all occa- 
sions of business or social intercourse, to impress his thoughts and 



22 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

opinions upon others. It was impossible not to see that he 
believed and meant wh%t he said, and that his whole conduct was 
the result of honest conviction. This was, undoubtedly, the case 
with him, so conspicuously and to such a degree, that even those 
who did not agree with him, were ready to concede that whatso- 
ever opinions he expressed were honestly entertained. And thus it 
was that he acquired a reputation for integrity upon which no 
aspersions were ever cast. 

In his business transactions he always displayed great sagaci- 
ty, and was scrupulously exact. His mind was well balanced, and 
his judgment generally accurate, both as regarded men and things. 
He read a good deal, and was a careful observer of passing events, 
which he analyzed with great thoroughness. He was, therefore, 
among the earliest of those who foresaw the growth and prosperity 
of this city and county, and, indeed, of the state. These were 
always favorite topics with him, and so decided were his convic- 
tions with regard to them that he was always ready whensoever the 
occasion presented — or to create an occasion when none existed — 
to assist in all measures tending to these ends. When the charter 
for the Terra Haute & Richmond (now the Terre Haute & Indian- 
apolis) railroad was first obtained, it was considered a matter of 
great doubt whether the money necessary for its construction could 
be obtained, as money, in those days, was not so plenty as it is 
now. A convention was assembled at Indianapolis to consider 
what steps should be taken, and it was there proposed that an ef- 
fort should be made to obtain a grant of lands from the United 
States sufficient for the purpose. A majority of the convention 
were disposed to favor this proposition, but Mr. Rose made such 
stern opposition to it that it was finally abandoned — showing in 
this the power and strength of his will- His defeat of the project 
created in his mind an impression that, if the enterprise should 
afterwards fail, a large share of the responsibility would rest upon 
him. And this consideration, added to his great anxiety for the 
construction of the road, stimulated him to extraordinary per- 
sonal exertions, which he immediately put forth with so much 
energy and perseverance that the money was raised by individual 
subscriptions, and the road built — mainly by his efforts and with 
capital furnished by him. But for him it would not have been 
then built, and but for him it would not have been so well built 
as to have become what it now is and has always been, one of the 
best and safest railroads in this country. He caused it to be con- 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 23 

structed as he did everything else in which he participated — being 
governed by the rule that whatever was worthy of being done at 
all, should be well done. 

He acquired the reputation of being what is popularly called 
a "railroad king," and if to have been one of the foremost and 
most conspicuous among the pioneer advocates of that kind of 
improvement entitled him to be so known, the title was properly 
given him. He contributed very largely to the railroads from 
Evansville to Terre Haute, from Terre Haute to Crawfordsville, 
and from Terre Haute to Danville, Illinois ; all of which are more 
indebted to him for their construction than to any other indi- 
vidual. He advocated . zealously, for many years, a railroad from 
Terre Haute, through Illinois, to St. Louis, and expended money 
liberally in making experimental surveys. But his advancing age 
admonished him that it was necessary for other and younger men 
to carry out this important scheme, and he was content to see 
what he had done made available finally in the construction of 
the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute Railroad, now a part of the 
Vandalia line. 

Mr. Rose was a resolute man. In all the enterprises in which 
he engaged he displa3^ed this quality, and, in consequence, gen- 
erally achieved success in what he undertook. His strong Avill 
enabled him to influence others and to impress them with his 
opinions. It was this which gave him his own earnestness and 
untiring activity in pursuit of the objects he desired to accomplish, 
for it is one of the inexplicable laws of the human mind that its 
own vigor and energy is increased in the same proportion as it 
imparts them to others. To others he could not be unfaithful, 
because he was true to himself. And as he always acted with 
strict fidelity to his convictions, he pursued the line of duty, as he 
conceived it, with unfaltering purpose. 

The accuracy of his judgment in business affairs enabled him 
to make judicious investment of his means, and this resulted in 
the accumulation of his large estate ; which, when acquired, he 
seemed to consider as being held by him in trust for the public, 
and as imposing upon him obligations Avhich grew out of his rela- 
tions to society. Thus he dispensed many private charities which 
were unknown to any except the recipients and himself in which 
quiet field of benevolent operations he kept alive and invigorated 
the sentiment of philanthropy, which grew and increased as the 
circle of his good works was enlarged. For some years before his 



24 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

death his mind was greatly exercised in determining the most 
suitable method of so distributing his property that the public 
should be benefitted by it — especially that part of the public 
where he had lived so long, where he had formed many friend- 
ships, and where his wealth had been acquired. He had strong 
sympathy for those who have to struggle, without fault, against 
the tide of adverse fortune which overwhelms so many victims. 
This became a fixed sentiment in his mind, so that the conscious- 
ness of having relieved the suffering of the meritorious poor gave 
him always intense gratification. Our citizens all know how 
many evidences of this were, from time to time, given by him. By 
his munificent gift to the Ladies' Aid Society of this city he has 
enabled it, under the admirable administration of its managers, to 
become a noble and magnificent charity. His donations to Provi- 
dence Hospital were upon a most liberal scale. The medical dis- 
pensary which he established in this city, and where the poor are 
to be provided for without charge, is a work of Christian benevo- 
lence. And added to these, and others less conspicuous, there is 
the Orphan Home, with an endowment sufficient to assure its per- 
manency, which, of itself, is enough to confer immortal honor 
upon his memory. 

He took deep interest in the cause of education generally. 
But that kind of education most suitable for young men of 
genius, talents and enterprise, and which should fit them for the 
highest spheres of practical life, was, with him, a favorite topic of 
thought and conversation. His leading idea was that a system 
should be provided that would blend the industrial sciences with 
the branches of knowledge usually taught in the schools and col- 
leges, so that the pupils should not only become scholars in the 
ordinary sense, but should be enabled to follow the various 
mechanical, professional, and industrial pursuits with intelligence 
and skill. He desired to build up a class of educated and scien- 
tific mechanics and laboring men, so that, in the pursuit of their 
various vocations, they should be able to give full scope to their 
inventive and constructive talents. In furtherance of his gen- 
eral purpose he gave, from time to time, liberal contributions to 
Wabash College, at Crawfordsville. He also furnished the means 
of adding essentially to the library of the State Normal School, in 
this city; and paid the expenses of a considerable number of 
young ladies while fitting themselves at that school to become 
teachers. And at last, his leading and long cherished thought 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 25 

with reference to education, culminated in the grand and noble 
bequest which has caused the erection of this building and the 
establishment of this polytechnic school. His various gifts in this 
vicinity and state, for these philanthropic purposes, exceed a mil- 
lion of dollars. 

Mr. Rose exhibited a prominent and leading trait of his 
character in dealing with the estate of one of his brothers who 
died in New York, leaving a large fortune. He found, after the 
death of his brother, that his will made bequests of more than a 
million of dollars to various charities, but that they were so made 
as to place the control of the funds in the hands of public officials 
in whose integrity he had no confidence. Investigation satisfied 
him that they would be, in all probability, squandered and lost, if 
the will were executed according to its provisions, and that, by this 
means, the benevolent objects of his brother would not be accom- 
plished. He, accordingly, instituted legal proceedings to set the 
will aside, and, after tedious litigation, succeeded in doing so. 
Thus he inherited in his own right and as the heir of his brother, 
the large sum disposed of by the bequests of the will. This would 
have put the character of almost any man to a severe test, and a 
very large majority of men would, without hesitation, have appro- 
priated the money to their own use. Not so, however, with Mr. 
Rose. It required no deliberation on his part to decide that justice 
to the memory of his brother and to his own character, required 
that the money should be disposed of by him so as to execute the 
objects provided for in the will, as far as possible. As the repre- 
sentative of his brother, therefore, voluntarily— and without any 
compulsion — he did this, by disposing of the money in New York 
for charitable objects, such as the Newsboys' Home, the Institution 
for the Relief ot the Ruptured and Crippled, and others of like 
character. For all those he also gave more than a million of 
dollars. 

Few men have left so many evidences of a humane and phi- 
lanthropic spirit, or have bestowed their charities more wisely. 
There is an entire absence of anything like selfishness in each one 
of them, and so quietly were many of them dispensed that the 
public knew nothing of them until their fruits were observed. As 
his own conscience guided him, and he needed nothing more than 
its approval, he did not seek after notoriety, or what the world 
calls fame. As it was impossible to shake his purpose when it 
became fixed, so it was always executed without regard to mere 



26 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

applause. As he deliberated well and intelligently before acting, 
and followed the counsel of his own convictions,, so he left his acts 
to speak for themselves, as they now do with eloquence which no 
words can imitate. 

The many who have already been relieved by his benevolence 
will unite in the bestowal of blessings upon his memory. Hun- 
dreds of others yet to come, who shall share the benefactions he 
has so bountifully provided, will repeat his name with sincere and 
heartfelt praises. But there will be none louder or more earnest 
in this than the recipients of the blessings which shall flow from 
this school, whose foundations he has laid with so much wisdom 
and foresight, and around which his affections clustered with the 
most intense ardor of his nature. 

As one of the survivors in that circle of which he was for so 
many years a conspicuous part — a circle growing smaller and nar- 
rower every day — it is only left for me to say, in closing my part 
of these performances, that as I knew him in life to possess integ- 
rity which no temptation could shake, and honesty which no 
tongue ever assailed, I join, earnestly and heartily, in whatsoever 
expression of praise his character and his deeds of love, of mercy, 
and of benevolence, shall call forth. May the noble charities of 
his long life continue to shed their benignant influences upon 
society when we, too, have passed away. May* his earthly remains 
sleep gently in the narrow sepulchre of the dead. And may his 
immortal spirit, freed from the shackles of earth, dwell forever in 
that " house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," where 
the good deeds of a well-spent life are rewarded by the dispensa- 
tions of a God whose love is as boundless as eternity, and whose 
"mercy endureth forever." 



Gen. John Eaton, United States Commissioner of Education, having 
been presented to the audience by the President, spoke as follows : 

GEN. JOHN Eaton's address. 

This occasion is a striking illustration of the characteristics of 
American freedom and civilization. How often, in other forms of 
government, imperial or monarchical, only members of the royal 
or aristocratic families are expected to make benefactions for the 
welfare of the people. Tyndall, even, has expressed a fear that 



HOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 27 

America? would come short in the race of scientific research 
because of lack of royal patronage. 

An intelligent European traveling among us was so struck 
with the great endowments of which he learned, and the magnifi- 
cent buildings erected by private persons for educational pur- 
poses, that he gathered the best information and illustrations of 
some of the most conspicuous instances, and arranged them for 
the benefit of his friends in his store in the old city of Prague, 
that those seeing them might not wait for royalty, but go them- 
selves and do likewise. 

Mr. Rose was a man of the people; he gained his wealth by 
those methods of honest toil, by that self-denying, persistent 
application which it is the peculiar distinction of our free insti- 
tutions to warmly encourage and generously reward. Gaining 
wealth, he did not coin his soul into money. He preserved his 
humanity ; he was touched by the condition of his fellows. Visit- 
ing among strangers in New York City an institution for ruptured 
and crippled children, he felt their needs, and gave in all for their 
benefit one hundred thousand dollars. He won his way by toil. 
His penetration saw the relation of thought to action, of science 
to labor, of culture to human welfare. He may not have been 
able to state all the postulates that unfold the effect of education 
upon handicraft, but he so far apprehended their meaning that he 
gave funds for this institute of technology, that the honest life 
efforts of the young who come^ here may not be burdened and 
crippled and circumscribed by ignorance. He would offer them 
here opportunities to gain a power more subtle and effective than 
that of Aladdin, with which to master difficulties and make nature 
contribute to their progress, usefulness, comfort and pleasure. 

Those intrusted with the execution of his purpose have 
sought to adopt the wisest means to find out the right way. They 
have made haste slowly. The problems upon whose solution his 
great purpose depends for success are not all solved. The two 
great worlds of capital and labor, so often in danger of arraying 
themselves in conflict, are bringing all the forces at command for 
their solution. These considerate officers have sought to take 
advantage of what has been done. They have selected for Presi- 
dent one well known for his capacity, alike for broad and precise 
scholarship and successful administration, who has brought a sim- 
ilar institution from its first planting to a high degree of merited 
success, and before putting his hand to the work here has taken 



28 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

time to visit and study again the conditions of educational prog- 
ress, general and special, in its great centres and most instruct- 
ive aspects in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe. • 

The moment and the conditions are auspicious. Why are 
they so favorable ? By what steps have we reached this stage of 
educational progress? What is their significance? Each must 
give his own full answer. I can only allude in the briefest way to 
a few of the points specially notable in the great march of educa- 
tional events. 

It should never be forgotten that education has been indebted 
to religion for one of its chief motives, and in much of human 
history for its main direction. Wherever we turn to religion, true 
or false, to China, India, Egypt, Judea, or Rome, the priesthood 
appears as the learned class. How effectively has the religious 
impulse here and there promoted intellectual activity and growth ! 
' We may differ ever so broadly with Mohammedanism, and yet 
cannot fail to acknowledge the contributions of Mohammedans to 
chemistry, to mathematics, and the intellectual activity of large 
portions of the race for considerable periods of time. Among reli- 
gious devotees in the Dark Ages, when religion had well nigh per- 
ished from the earth, the priests kept the lamp of learning burning , 
in their religious seclusion. Near the church and cathedral sprang 
up the school. Charlemagne brought the aid of the state to the 
church, and gave a great impulse to education ; a subordinate ruler 
issued a decree for free education , in his domain. Later, the agita- 
tion of Luther's period aroused inquiry among the common peo- 
ple. He brought to bear all religious motives, and out of them 
taught the duty of the magistrate to establish schools as well as to 
build bridges and organize armies. 

The religious notion of the value and equality of every man's 
soul led the New England fathers to enact, by special authority, 
that " every child must be taught so much of letters that he may 
read the word of God, and thus know the way of life, and under- 
stand the capital laws that he may avoid crime against society." 

Frederick the Great, perceiving the situation in Prussia that 
had resulted from the Reformation, said, in substance : " I can 
increase the power of my realm, overtaxed by the wars in which I 
have been involved, by increasing the capacity of every citizen by 
education." He saw how he had made armies powerful by train- 
ing officers, and by applying the same principle to education 



EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 29 

greatly aided progress in the instruction of the children by estab- 
lishing normal schools for the training gf teachers. 

Thus in different parts of the civilized world education has 
become general. It will be noted, however, that strong and effect- 
ive as the religious motive may have been in any case, that ednica- 
tion has never become universal until undertaken by the civil 
authorities. In some instances the church has been reluctant to 
learn this great lesson of history; but by degrees the principle by 
which the education of all children is guaranteed by the state — 
while the state also charters, protects, and gives the largest liberty 
to all private and denominational efforts— has been accepted in all 
the Commonwealths of our union, and become a settled conviction 
and practice of the great body of our people. All the civilized 
nations of Europe are struggling over it. For the enforcement of 
this principle, religion, not as the authority over the state, but as 
teaching the Christian and moral precepts of the citizens of the 
state, contributes its enormous quota of arguments. These the 
statesman reinforces with all the considerations derived from the 
dependence of the state and the citizen upon universal intelli- 
gence and virtue, and one by one the great interests of capital, 
of Briareus-handed industry, unite their voices in emphatic 
approval. This great principle established, and education pro- 
ceeding upon its work of universal instruction for the general pur- 
poses of the citizen and of civil administration, supplemented by 
the free and vigorous efforts for education under the direction of 
the church for the general good of all and the special benefit of 
each, general questions of method, that have never been entirely 
ignored, begin to come to the front with commanding interest. 

The precepts of religion and conduct required little illus- 
tration to the eye, and the methods of imparting them readily 
became abstract in their appeals to the reason and conscience. 
Mathematics could proceed by the same processes, and entered 
slight protest, but when chemistry and physics and natural science 
began to demand attention, other processes and appliances were 
required — laboratories, cabinets, museums, articles and processes 
that could be manipulated and could appeal to the eye. This has 
been one of the elements entering into the conflicts that now and 
then have arisen between science and ecclesiasticism. John Amos 
Comenius, the noted Moravian bishop and educational reformer, 
declared even before the landing of the pilgrims, "Ten years are 
given to the study of the Latin tongue, and after all the result is 



30 HOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

disappointing." Erasmus, Vives, Luther, Sturm, Frisch, Sanctius, 
Domavius, have all compl5,ined of this. Boyhood is distracted for 
years with precepts of grammar infinitely prolix, perplexing and 
obscure, and for the most part useless. Boys are stuffed with 
vocabularies without associating words with things, or indeed with 
one another syntactically. . 

The scientific method, it is now admitted, has made valuable 
contributions to the manner of teaching the classics and philos- 
ophy. While this much has been proceeding in the improvement 
in methods, certain other changes have been introduced in educa- 
tion for the better adaptation of culture to the necessities of man- 
kind. 

As I have intimated, among certain ancient peoples, and in the 
more recent developments of culture, the learned class was at once 
preacher, lawyer, doctor; but now we begin to see in education the 
application of that principle which marks all human progress. 

So far education had been argued and its doctrines main- 
tained on general grounds; a man's general improvement was 
urged, and his preparation for specialties left to his own direction 
and the development of his own experience after leaving school. 
Even in this general culture there were great variations; in one 
nation, or period, attention to the physical predominating; in 
another, care for the intellectual culture; in another, special 
enforcement of moral and religious precepts and practices. 

Any one will see the results if he will compare a citizen of 
Rome with one of Athens, or either of these with one of the faith- 
ful in Jerusalem. 

The thoughtful leaders of mankind have generally agreed 
with Socrates, first a man, then a specialist, whether a shoemaker, 
or statesman, or musician. 

The condition of concentrated populations, the demands of 
certain arts and guilds centuries since, led thoughtful men to 
inquire whether there was not in education a power, when it had 
given general culture, to add also something specific and useful to 
the training of the hand. The device which has met this demand 
in the main was apprenticeship ; but the changed condition of 
society rendering it undesirable or impossible for the craftsman to 
take the lad in his charge, a demand has been made upon the 
school to solve the new problems thus presented. Scholarly edu- 
cators observed that the several learned professions had come out 
of general culture by degrees. The practices and observations in 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 31 

the direction of law, and those in the direction of medicine, began 
to be recorded and studied separately from theology and the sub- 
jects of general culture. At first even in these learned professions 
the principle of apprenticeship was applied. The pupil doctor, 
and lawyer and preacher studied and began to practice with his 
preceptor. After a time, and that within a recent date, as you are 
well aware, it was found that classes could be brought together and 
several, or a large number instructed as well as a single student, 
and then came the professional schools of medicine, law xind 
theology. The other vocations, taking this with other hints, began 
to observe, record, print facts and doctrines of their theory and 
practice, and as an outcome we have had for a considerable num- 
ber of years in Europe an increasing array of schools of technics 
and schools for artisans. 

• The processes of general education applied to man are like 
the processes of multiplication applied to numbers. The progress 
of material improvements, of inventions, the increase of man's 
power over the forces of nature, the multiplication of possibilities 
of human enjoyment, have been found to keep pace with this 
general culture. 

Even the power to read and write indicates an increase of 
twenty-five per cent, in the producing power of the man engaged 
in the rudest manual labor ; an advance of culture, an increased 
producing power of fifty per cent., a^nd so the ratio goes on ; and 
when you come into the computation of its re&ults as affecting 
invention, the devising of new machines and methods, the eco- 
nomic direction of forces, the protection of health and life, no 
money value can be placed upon these benefits. But taking 
society as it is, and as it was represented in the census of 1870, we 
are directed by eminent experts to the fact that only about half of 
the population is self-supporting. How then can the burdens of 
the self-supporting class be lessened by increasing the number of 
self-supporting, becomes a question not alone of pedagogics and 
morals and statesmanship, but a question vital to every individual. 

Under the influence of these considerations, thought and effort 
are necessarily turned to the processes of instruction with the 
inquiry, cannot the processes of education be modified on the side 
of industry so as to increase the producing power of labor and thus 
multiply the possibilities of human comfort? 

The affirmative answer is coming up in greater and greater 
measure from all the civilized nations of the earth. 



32 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

England finds in a world's exhibition that her goods are losing 
their place in the markets of the world because of the lack of 
skilled workmen. Her statesmen, under the lead of the noble 
Prince Albert, forseeing the greater evil, establish Kensington, with 
its industrial museum, its schools of drawing, of art, and of mani- 
fold industries ; and this great forward but special movement soon 
points out more clearly the need of more effective general educa- 
tion, and we have the great elementary education act of 1870, 
whieh not a few English statesmen believed prevented a portending 
social revolution. 

In the United States a large portion of our people have, been 
engaged in the struggles of pioneer life. The church and the 
school house have been conspicuous side by side in their settle- 
ments. The schoolmaster has been abroad in the common school. 
The increase of books and newspapers has been marvelous. The 
discharge of the duty of citizenship and of the manifold voluntary 
associations promotive of social and individual welfare in addition 
to the efforts for self-support, have had a marked and healthful 
educating influence. 

The chances for wealth have been rewarded with remarkable 
success, and have been sought by the citizens of every civilized 
nation. Among these newcomers to our shores are many who 
have received the training of schools of technology and of the arts 
and trades. These scientists and experts have contributed enor- 
mously to the development of our interests and the advance of 
American scholarship and literature. 

Some years since, in connection with an effort to overthrow 
the high school in one of our largest manufacturing cities, an 
inquiry revealed the fact that the foreman in each of the large 
manufacturing establishments had enjoyed the advantage of skilled 
training in a foreign land. 

The conditions which have led to the establishment of special 
schools in other lands are becoming apparent in our own. 

Educators and benefactors have united iu their establishment 
and efficient conduct. The old colleges have admitted scientific 
departments. Harvard, the Lawrence Scientific School ; Yale, the 
Sheffield ; Dartmouth, the Chandler. The natural sciences have 
been given larger space in the curriculum of all colleges. General 
culture has been brought into closer relations with the struggles of 
life : but more has been demanded. 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 33 

In 1862 the Congress of the United States made a grant of 
lands from the public domain for the establishment of colleges of 
agriculture and the mechanic arts, and these institutions have 
been accordingly established in all the states, except one, and are 
now doing good work. Often and often they have been declared 
failures by those who did not know the facts. 

It should be observed that there were no institutions estab- 
lished to fit young persons to enter these colleges of agricul- 
ture and mechanic arts. All fitting schools aimed to prepare their 
students for classical courses. Moreover, our farmers had not in 
sufficient numbers come to appreciate the application of scientific 
information and training to their great industry, and were not 
ready to compensate sufficiently the graduates of these institu- 
tions to warrant them in devoting tlieir lives to the tilling of the 
soil. Our educated youth cannot be blamed for turning their 
efforts in the direction of the greatest success. But changes have 
come rapidly. In addition to these institutions, in which more 
attention is expected to be given to technology, science and indus- 
tr3^ many others have been established and sustained by private 
endowments, and these have been adding their graduates, specially 
qualified in the various departments of engineering and mechanic 
arts. Already a larger number trained in these state and private 
institutions are demanded by those who wish to apply science to 
agriculture. They are called for as foremen in the manifold man- 
ufacturiitg establishments; they are directing the enormous capital 
invested in mining; they are surveying our rivers and harbors, 
our coasts, our undeveloped lands, and marking out the ways for 
our great railroad enterprises. It is gratifying to know that the 
demand is greater than the supply. The Polytechnic school has 
its own work to do in this community and this state. We have 
passed the time of frontier life, rude, vigorous and poor. We have 
a great population, a various industry, enormous natural resources 
to use wisely and provide for shrewdly. The loneliness, the priva- 
tions, the dangers of early times, are gone with the free land, the 
forest, the deer and the panther; the frontiers of our speech and 
our civilization are now at the Rio Grande and the Athabasca. 
The work of four generations has made the Ohio valley and the 
Lake region more populous, more accessible, more rich than all 
the thirteen colonies that fringed the Atlantic coast a century ago. 
Our wants, our tastes, our objects have changed as much as the 
circumstances of our life. We wish for comfort as well as shelter, 



34 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

for tasteful as much as warm apparel, for various as well as suf- 
ficient food, for mental as much as bodily nutriment. The defect- 
ive, dependent and delinquent classes of our population are better 
fed, lodged, clothed and instructed than the pioneers of the old 
time. The soil must produce more and better food, without losing 
fertility ; the earth must yield its coal, iron, lead and copper for 
the arts of peace and the uses of war. The waters must bear craft 
of which our forefathers never dreamed, and must be curbed so 
that the fields and homes of our people shall not be submerged ; 
the electric fluid must carry, not only the verbal, but the oral mes- 
sages of our intercourse. The waste, the ignorance, the careless- 
ness of the past are doomed. The problem for the new age is to 
perfect every appliance for man's progress over land and wave, his 
comfort as well as his necessities, his enjoyment as well as his life. 

The common advance in economy, precision and importance 
which improvements in machine construction have made manifest 
in that branch of industry, must be sought for in other branches 
of work and life. Our trades, our farm work, our buildings, our 
vehicles, our vessels, must be equally developed and perfected; 
and our tastes, our minds, our bodies and our souls must not be 
neglected. The graces of life, the amenities of manner, the beau- 
ties' of art and nature must be cultivated as sedulously as corn, 
and bred more carefully than sheep and horses. Not men only 
are required for this work. Already women have had a share in 
the increase of opportunities. The normal schools, especially, 
have opened to them new careers as successful teachers, and bio- 
logical, chemical and scientific laboratories are offering to them 
the same opportunities for excellence as to men. 

The Rose Polj^'technic Institute to-day takes its place in this 
array of great schools of science, technology and industry. It has 
wrapped up in its plans untold blessings for the community in 
which it is established. It is one of a trio of somewhat similar 
institutions, Purdue University and the University of Illinois, 
which together with itself may be said to stand at the angles of a 
limited triangle whose lines may draw them into a proximity cal- 
culated to awaken the sensitiveness of some minds, but each of 
these institutions in its local approaches can only create a healthy 
emulation. Each and all are under national demands to do their 
utmost, not alone to learning, to science, to the arts and trades, and 
citizenship, but to general education. I have alluded to the effect 
of establishing the Kensington museum and technical and Indus- 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 35 

trial schools upon elementary education in England. Our educa- 
tors are recognizing a similar necessity in this country. Teachers 
are needed who understand more of arts and trades. The intelli- 
gent public mind in America is struggling with this problem of 
how to adapt the common school education to the changing needs 
of industry and society. The Secretary of the Interior and Con- 
gress are revolutionizing the methods of educating the Indian. 
They want teachers who know how to teach the ideas, the habits, 
the practices of the men and women, the self-supporting members 
of civilized life. Our cities, struggling to provide special schools 
for the large number unable to follow the general course of train- 
ing in the common schools, are asking for teachers qualified to 
teach arts and trades. The North and the South, the East and the 
West, are joining hands to raise up the children of the race recently 
slaves. They can see in the present light how to give them books 
by State and voluntary and national aid ; but they find no 
adequate response when they call for teachers to instruct the 
women in those industries of which they have so generally a 
monopoly in those States — household economy, purchase of articles 
of household use, chemistry of the kitchen, the duties of nursing 
children and the sick, laundry work and the preparing and cooking 
of food or the corresponding economies and skill for men as 
farmers and mechanics. I say, therefore, God speed this and all 
similar institutions. May they multiply and increase in efficiency 
so as to do their part with thoroughness alike to all special instruc- 
tion and all contributions to the general welfare and general edu- 
cation. If I ought to add another remark, I wish I could convey 
to you some idea of the activity manifest to one in the Bureau of 
Education at Washington, that national clearing house of educa- 
tional information upon the instruction to be imparted in these 
institutions. Germany, with all its previous attempts in this 
ditection, has just had a special commission traveling to gain 
information on this subject. There is enormous activity in France; 
even Spain and Russia are bringing institutions of this class to the 
very forefront of excellence. England has had a learned commis- 
sion thoroughly investigating the subject upon the Continent ; her 
colonies in North America and in distant seas have been making 
the same inquiry. 

The many demands at Washington have prompted the Senate 
to call for a special report on industrial education in the United 
States. The Bureau of Education seeking according to the measure 



36 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

of its means to answer these demands, has printed the preliminary 
report of the English commission and has issued a small circular 
on instruction in the minor arts, for which a single mail brought 
requests for over six thousand copies. Another extended report is 
in progress on drawing and instruction in art. 

The persons among us who are making this subject a special 
study are as yet unnumbered. Every philanthropic and patriotic 
impulse of our natures prompts us as Americans to desire that the 
problems committed to this and all other institutions of learning 
in our land may be solved without the necessity of blows and 
violence. 

You may remember the story that Prof Roscoe told of a' visit 
to a technological school in the French city of Rouen, where he 
was shown a museum of natural objects. The Englishman saw 
among the articles a German helmet, and asked, " Do you call that 
a natural object?" "No," said the French director, "but it plays 
a very important part in our teaching.. When our young men 
seem lax and indiiferent I put this helmet on the table before them 
and say, ' Gentlemen, look at that helmet; you know how it came 
•here; you know that the wearers of those helmets stripped France 
of her fairest provinces from the Alps to the British channel, and 
humiliated us in our city of Rouen. You know also that they 
were able to do these things because they were more intelligent 
than we Frenchmen were. Do you wish them to do it again ? ' 
Nothing quickens the industry of my students as that helmet does." 

Friends of Rose Institute, may you never need to remember 
any victory in your own territory over yourselves — whether in arts 
or in arms, gained by others, becaase of your ignorance. May 
your children ever find the highest stimulus to application, not m 
disgrace, but in the wisdom and success of their fathers. 



At the conclusion of Gen. Eaton's address, a recess of half an hour 
was taken, and lunch was served to invited guests and others in one of the 
large halls of the second story. During the interval the museum, the 
library, the lofty clock-tower, and many of the rooms of the building, were 
visited by the audience. 

The exercises being resumed. Dr. Lemuel Moss, "President of the State 
University, was called upon by President Collett for an address, and 
responded briefly. Dr. Moss not having been able, owing to the pressure of 
his engagements, to comply with the request of the Board that he should 
furnish a report of his remarks, it is impossible to present them as delivered. 
They were a notable episode of the ceremonies, and, in the characteristically 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 37 

eloquent manner of the distinguished speaker, recognized the new institu- 
tion as an important addition to the educational forces of the state, 
extended the heartiest and most cordial welcome to Dr. Thompson, Presi- 
dent-elect of the Faculty, and paid a glowing tribute to the far-sighted and 
practical benevolence of the generous founder. 

The President then introduced Dr. Emerson E. White, President of 
Purdue University, who said : 



PRESIDENT WHITE'S ADDRESS. 

Disappointments meet us on the mountain tops as well as in 
the valleys. When I entered this hall this morning I anticipated 
nothing less than being a serene and delighted listener to these 
auspicious exercises ; but, in a few minutes, my serenity was dis- 
turbed by the approach of one of the officers of the day, who in a 
sentence gave me to understand that I would be called upon to 
speak. A glance at the face of my disturber satisfied me that a 
refusal would be useless, and so I surrendered with as much grace 
as possible to the unwelcome information. 

While I should much have enjoyed the privilege of being a 
silent listener, the occasion makes speech easy, since it affords me 
an opportunity to welcome to Indiana my friend, Dr. Charles 0. 
Thompson, who this day assumes the direction of one of the most 
important educational enterprises in the West. ' He comes here to 
try no new experiment, but to organize and direct an institution 
all the elements of whose success are familiar to him — he comes 
an organizer, who sees the end from the beginning. I join most 
heartily with President Moss in welcoming so distinguished a rep- 
resentative of higher technical education to this noble common- 
wealth, whose vast industrial resources are waiting for the touch of 
technical science and skill to turn them into fabulous wealth. I 
have watched the work of Dr. Thompson for years, and his accept- 
ance of the presidency of this important technical institution, 
is, to my mind, a full assurance of its success. I stand in this 
presence as the representative of Purdue University, an institu- 
tion founded by Congress for the benefit of agriculture and the 
mechanic arts, and I assume no prophetic forecast when I express 
the belief that there is to be no unpleasant rivalry between the 
two institutions. The success of Rose Polytechnic Institute will 
emphasize the practical importance of technical training, and it 
will thus create a wider appreciation of the special work for which 



38 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

Purdue University was founded. It is true that Purdue covers a 
wider field of technical training, but, in this case, whatever 
strengthens a part will strengthen the whole. The better the tech- 
nical training here the better the industrial work at Lafayette. 
Purdue welcomes her worthy co-worker in the field of industrial 
education, and she extends most hearty congratulations that the 
opening to-day is so auspicious and so full of promise. 

The American people are at last awakening to the importance 
of technical training, so universally recognized in the older coun- 
tries of Europe. Seven years ago, when I went to Purdue, there 
was little demand for agricultural or mechanical education in this 
state, and, though the present appreciation of such training "is far 
from satisfactory, the change wrought in these seven years is full 
of encouragement, the most significant evidence of this change 
being the founding of this great technical school by private munif- 
icence. 

It is becoming more and more evident that the railroad, the 
steamship and the telegraph have destroyed our industrial isola- 
tion, and that the American artisan must successfully compete 
with European workmen in skill oi* retire from the shop and sur- 
render the market. The day of mere muscle in industry has 
passed and the day of mind, with skill of eye and hand, has 
dawned. It may be well for a time to put legal barriers between 
American industry and foreign competition, but in the end we 
must depend on equal technical knowledge and skill. What our 
vast resources most need is the touch of science and technical 
power, and hence the technical school is the prime factor in the 
problem of American industry. This is the great industrial lesson 
which the people of this country are beginning to learn — and not 
a day too soon. Thought in the brain of the workmen has been 
the source of our marvelous material development. It has been 
the parent of invention which has already wrought a revolution iii 
nearly all departments of human industry. 

Forty years ago the father and his sons, with sickle in hand, 
filed into the wheat field and handful by handful laid it in sheaves. 
A thoughtful reaper, with aching back, asked himself the question, 
"Why can not I give my fingers to my scythe? " The answer was 
the invention of the old square-cornered cradle, with which the 
harvest hand could cut two acres of grain with less weariness than 
he had cut a half acre with a sickle. Another thinking workman, 
with aching arm, asked himself the question, '' What is the use of 



EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 39 

SO much timber?" and he rounded the corner, inventing the 
" muly " cradle with which the harvester could cut half an acre of 
grain more daily and with less weariness than before. 

But the sickle long since disappeared from the harvest field, 
and _ is now kept only as a relic of other days; the old square- 
cornered cradle hangs on a dying peach tree with a single finger 
left; and the "muly" cradle is oiily kept to pick up lodged places 
and cut out corners. When the harvest waves its golden welcome 
to the joyous farmer, out from the stable come fat horses, and 
attached to wondrous reaper and self-binder, round and round the 
field they go, leaving the grain in well bound sheaves. Here is 
progress in farming as the industrial result of thought power. 
Thought in the brain of labor is the alchemy that is turning every 
thing it touches into gold. ' 



After Dr. White's remarks, President Collett presented tlie keys of tiie 
Institute to Dr. Charles 0. Thompson, President of tlie Faculty, in the 
following terms : 



Professor Thompson: In selecting a President of the Rose Poly- 
technic Institute the managers were impressed with the importance 
and delicacy of the duty devolving upon them. The question as 
to whether the Institute were to be successful and meet the expec- 
tations of its founder, or prove a source of disappointment to its 
friends, depended largely upon the wisdom of their choice. 

The matter was long and carefully considered, and every effort 
made to secure the fullest information as to the fitness of the per- 
sons suggested for the position. Their unanimous choice has fallen 
upon you, and they deem themselves fortunate in having secured 
your services, believing that the Institute will be safe in your 
hands, and its prosperity and usefulness fully assured. 

On behalf of the Board of Managers I tender you the keys of 
the Institute. " 



• On receiving the keys, Dr. Thompson, in a few brief ex-tempor<'^ sen- 
tences, thanked the Board of Managers for their expression of confidence 
and pledged his best efforts to secure the success of the school. He then 
proceeded to the delivery of his inaugural address. 



40 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

' DR. Thompson's inaugural address. 

The Rose Polytechnic Institute is a school of technology. In 
order to understand the functions of the school it is necessary to 
take a brief survey of the field of technical training. This phrase 
describes all those forms of training youth which deal with, the 
application of art or of science to the industrial arts. Those 
schools in which designing for the patterns of textile fabrics, or for 
the decoration of wood, iron, pottery, gems, etc., is the principal 
end, are called art schools, or schools of design, of which the South 
Kensington system is the most famous example; all those in which 
the principles of physical science are studied with reference to 
their application to the solution of practical problems in building, 
machine construction, and design, or in civil engineering, are 
called polytechnic or technological schools. There is great con- 
fusion just now in the use of terms, technical education being used 
to describe all that which aims at a directly practical end as 
opposed to the education given at the college ; while that part of it 
which does not deal with ornament or textile design is sometimes 
described by the same term. The word technology, which for- 
merly signified the terms used in the sciences, now means the 
application of the sciences to industrial ends. The term polytech- 
nic, originally used to describe schools of technology, has refused 
to yield to the more desirable synonym, technological, partly 
because it is an easier word, and partly because it contains a sug- 
gestion of the many-sidedness of the subject which the better word 
lacks. There is no good word corresponding to polytechnic or 
technological to apply to the persons who practice the profession 
indicated, and so these persons are called, now as always, engi- 
neers, and the business engineering. A few still cling to the term 
scientific schools in speaking of these institutions. In the present 
prevailing confusion of terms the best that can be said is that a 
polytechnic school teaches technology to engineers. Below the 
grade of the polytechnic there are multitudes of schools and parts 
of schools that teach the elements of the mechanis arts — many of 
them of the greatest interest and importance— and around it are 
many institutions that devote themselves to industrial art ; but I 
must deny myself the pleasure of discussing any of these, with 
the important collateral questions of policy that they present, and 
proceed at once to the school we have in hand — the polytechnic. 
We shall find that all schools of technology, under whatever 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 41 

names, or with whatever special aims, present a common system of 
instruction complete in itself, with strenuous requisitions, a logical 
curriculum and a sharply defined end. In treating of technology, 
I am happily absolved from the duty of pointing out its import- 
ance; that is settled by the establishment of this school and others 
like it by the men who endowed them. They were men whose 
sagacity was too strong to be mistaken. 

Technology is essentially a new idea; it is certainly no older in 
its present aspects than the discovery of the law of the conservation 
of energy — the great idea of the present century. No discovery 
since that of gravitation has been so stimulating or so powerful. 
Its influence is incalculable. It is seen in the multiplication of 
labor-saving machinery for every form of work, the great array of 
useful inventions, the expansion of the system of land and ocean 
highways, and especially in the immense increase of the means for 
acquiring knowledge. This demand for economy of force and 
material has brought about great changes in the industrial arts ; 
the apprentice system has disappeared ; the necessaries of life 
being made by machinery, manual trades are no longer needed for 
that end, and skilled handicraft is a rare accomplishment. There 
is and there will always be a demand for skilled labor in the arts 
of building-construction, in pattern-making and similar forms of 
w^ood-work, in die-sinking and- kindred arts that deal with the 
metals, and especially in assembling and finishing the parts of 
structures as they are delivered from machines ; but this is a small 
demand compared with what existed when shoes, clothes, furni- 
ture and tools were made by hand. The mechanic of the future 
will be a machinist. To such an extent is this replacement of 
handicraft by machinery true that we have shoemakers who can- 
not make a shoe, chairmakers who cannot make a chair, and 
generally artisans ignorant of the whole of any art. Mr. Batchel- 
der, of North Brookfield, Mass., the largest shoe manufacturer in 
Worcester county, said that out of his six hundred men not more 
than ten could make a shoe. I once examined a very interesting 
picture of some pieces of iron that had been done by boys in an 
experimental forge-shop; the work seemed to be well done and 
creditable to the workmen ; but out of some seventy pieces not 
more than ten would ever be made by hand at all in actual manu- 
facturing. 

Another result of the economy of force is that attention is 
concentrated now more upon the principles of phenomena than 



42 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

upon the phenomena themselves. Formerly the only hope of 
finding a better or cheaper way of doing things lay in the chance 
discoveries of ingenious men — men looked at things from the out- 
side in ; now it is seen that nothing is so fruitful and that nothing 
so advances human interests as a principle — men look at things 
more from the inside out. For, nearly all mechanical ways of doing 
things were once regarded as out of the ordinary course of human 
affairs and to be relegated, if not to the domain of the supernatural, 
at least to that of the superhuman. The feeling towards scientific 
investigation as a means to practical ends partook of the same 
quality that infested men's views of disease; if typhoid fever 
prevailed in a given district the people did not look to their 
drains and wells, but flocked to church and appointed a day of 
fasting. What were regarded as the pardonable vagaries of Daniel 
Treadwell, Rumford Professor in Harvard University, turn out 
now to be the inventions upon which single-track railroads, the 
machinery for spinning cordage-yarn, the Armstrong, Blakely and 
Krupp cannon depend. I will venture, however, the asseHion 
that no person in this audience ever heard before of these great 
inventions as Treadwell's; they came too soon for the world to 
know them as works of genius, yet they are the first fruits of 
the new era in which great problems are solved, not by happy 
inventions of geniuses real or affected, but by the sober and 
steady application by laborious scholars of established principles 
of physics. 

Time would fail me to enumerate the influential inventions 
that have sprung from a similar origin. Who has not heard of the 
Siemens' Furnace, the Bessemer Converter, dynamite, compressed 
air and the uses of electricity ? And it must also be remarked 
that each of these inventions demands corresponding machinery 
of novel design; for another feature of the new era is the necessity 
of reconstructing old machinery in more economical forms and the 
constant call for new machinery to meet new demands. When a 
new invention is made nowadays, machinery for it is as important 
as the invention itself. Perhaps the most striking illustration of 
the change in common things which has been brought about by 
technology is the rail on which railway traffic is conducted; 
formerly it was an iron edge rail, supported by chains and having 
more iron in the base than the head; clumsy as this rail was, it was 
claimed to be the only form in which the only available metal 
could be used for the purpose ; now the rail is made of steel, with 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 43 

well defined tread, web and base, the principal weight of metal in 
the head, where it is most needed, and every line subjected to the 
finest physical tests. To those who know how much of the best 
knowledge we have of physics and chemistry has been put, and 
is still put into a railroad rail, it seems one of the most interesting 
of all modern manufactures. It is not wide of the mark to char- 
acterize the past age as one of invention, the present as one of 
engineering. The study and mastery of the principles of physical 
science, the ability to express those principles in drawing and 
descriptions and to apply them to the solution of practical prob- 
lems through machinery and handicraft are the essential qualities 
of an engineer. So that a polytechnic school, by whatever name 
called, technological, technical or engineering, teaches technology 
to engineers, i. e., it teaches the principles of physical science and 
their application to the industrial arts. 

Engineering is the term that includes all the arts of produc- 
tion and construction which arise from the physical sciences. Its 
object is to bend the forces of nature to the service of man. 

The names applied to the different branches of engineering 
are not always appropriate, but in general, a civil engineer con- 
structs public works, such as highways, railroads, water works, 
sewers, etc.; a mechanical engineer deals with machinery, from the 
original design of each part, through the machine shop and into 
the structure and to the operation of the structure, i. e., the 
machine ; the chemical engineer applies chemistry to the manifold 
products that result from the play of chemism. Then there are 
numerous fields which the term covers : as hydraulic, steam, gas, 
electrical engineering. In each and all, the engineer is distinct 
from the artisan or craftsman by exactly the amount of his knowl- 
edge of the scientific principles which underlie the practice of his 
profession and his resulting ability to apply those principles to the 
ready and complete solution of real problems as they arise. 

For example : Mr. Batterson had occasion to cut a block of 
marble so as to produce a warped surface, for which his workmen 
had no patterns; the men had great skill in stone cutting, but 
could not cut that stone. A graduate of a school of technology 
happened to be employed in the city schools as teacher of drawing; 
hearing of the. case at the marble yard, he tendered his services, 
applied the familiar principles of stereotomy, made patterns, and 
the men at once executed the work. Last November the Italian 
government made comparative tests of the power of different 



44 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

armor-plates to resist the shot of heavy ordnance ; the plates that 
stood the test were made by Schneider, at the shops of the French 
technological school at Le Creusot. 

The bridge over the Vistula river, at Warschau, was built by 
a graduate of Carlsruhe ; that over the Volga, by English engineers; 
but the latest, largest and most costly bridge in Russia — over the 
Neva — was built by graduates of the Imperial Technological school 
of St. Petersburg, and ever}'^ piece of iron that entered into it was 
tested in the laboratories of that school. 

A few years ago it became suddenly desirable and important 
to pump out the central shaft of the Hoosac Tunnel; a suction 
pump was plainly inadmissible; the craftsmen had nothing to 
suggest ; a young engineer built a small raft on the surface of the 
water in the shaft, lowered on to it a steam pump, set his boiler at 
the shaft mouth, had himself lowered to the raft, and alone in the 
darkness worked his pump twenty-six hours without accident and 
with great efficiency ; men then tendered their services in abund- 
ance, and the problem was soon solved. 

But the air is full of modern instances of the triumphs of engi- 
neering skill in overcoming great natural obstacles ; the use of the 
inclined plane in the zig-zag roads over which horses trot in safety 
and at ease from Alpine heights to the valleys below ; the appli- 
cation of compressed air to the two purposes of sinking caissons 
and driving machines at a great distance from the source of power, 
the use of the friction clutch, the air-brake, and a thousand other 
examples of the application of the familiar principles of science to 
the solution of mechanical problems. In each case, however, it 
will be noticed that one man may understand physics thoroughl}^, 
as thousands of men have understood the subject, and another 
man may understand the construction of machinery, but not one 
of the triumphs of engineering above mentioned be achieved. The 
theoretical knowledge of physics and the practical command of 
machinery must come together; if this happy conjunction occur 
in one and the same man, the best results follow. Then the 
same affluent good comes forth in the domain of mechanics that 
abounded in the middle ages, where the artist and artisan were 
one; when Peter Vischef and Quentin Matsys worked at black- 
smithing, and Michael Angelo cut stone, and Benvenuto Cellini 
hammered silver and gold, each touching the iron, or the stone, or 
the silver, with a beauty and value that all the ages since have 
only enhanced. 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 45 

Here some one will surely interpose the fact that E. B. Bigelow, 
the inventor of the modern carpet loom and one of the greatest of 
American inventors, could neither make one of his own machines 
nor the working drawings for it. His head was an amazing tangle 
of mechanical contrivances, but the draftsman and mechanic were 
indispensable to the successful evolution of them. This of course 
was a temperamental matter with him. We cannot change the 
fact that many inventors cannot express their own ideas; nor am I 
going to claim that any amount of technical training or of any 
other kind of training is likely to aid a so-called mechanical genius 
very much. Indeed, Mr. Bigelow never admitted to me at least, 
that a course in technology would have aided him; the nearest 
approach to such a concession was the' remark, at the close of a 
busy forenoon spent in studying the Worcester school: "Well, 
I'll go home and consider how all this would have affected me 
had I begun here as a boy." I do not think he would have begun 
there or in any other school, for he was a genius in the best 
sense. A genius is a law to himself, the processes by which the 
mass of men must gain knowledge are strange and useless to him ; 
generally he is a poor adviser in educational questions. He can 
never be educated in any sense in which the word is understood 
by ordinary men. Still, b}'- a knowledge of the principles of mech- 
anism and the methods of expressing and applying those principles, 
the ordinary inventor would secure to his use the benefit of his own 
inventions which somebody else so often appropriates, and would 
save the Patent Office much of its costly and superfluous rubbish. 

No graduate of any school is at that time an engineer. The 
qualities of good judgment and efficient reason grow only in the 
atmosphere of experience. Hence no diploma can be regarded as 
meaning anything more than that the possessor has passed success- 
fully the examinations that are set at any particular school. 
Graduates should begin at the bottom of their profession and their 
school training will tell best and most effectively in the rate of 
their advancement. They will advance more rapidly than others 
along the lines which are determined by their natural aptitudes. 

The Almighty makes superintendents and leaders of men — no 
school can do this. But the training required for a superintendent 
must be that of his subordinates. All the best experience of the 
world sanctions this rule. A superintendent who has not had the 
training of the shop is as useless as Achilles without his weapons 
— he may seem and assume to direct and to lead, but he does not; 



46 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

on the other hand, the man who attempts to lead without natural 
leadership, however wise, is as useless as the weapons without 
Achilles. 

The question how men shall best be trained for engineering 
was asked long ago before any practical result ensued. 

The Marquis of Worcester, imprisoned in the Tower of London^ 
1645, working industriously upon his steam and water engines, cast 
eyes upon a lot which he could see from his window and instructed 
his agent to buy it, intending, he said, as soon as he was set at 
liberty to erect a school wherein boys might learn something of 
the principles of the mechanic arts. But he was never allowed the 
opportunit}'' to carry out his idea. 

There is an interesting letter from President Leonard Hoar, of 
Cambridge, to Robert Boyle, in which the good man, after acknowl- 
edging some favors from Boyle, discloses to him some darling 
projects of his own about the improvement of the course at the 
University and says : " I would have a large, well sheltered garden 
and orchard for students addicted to planting ; an erg.asterium for 
mechanic fancies, and a laboratory chemical for those philosophers 
that by their senses would cultivate their understanding ; for the 
students to spend their times of recreation at them ; for reading 
or notions are but husky provender." Boyle did not encourage 
the President, and his project slumbered for two centuries, but was 
at last substantially realized in the Lawrence Scientific School. 

The first independent polytechnic school was the Ecole Poly- 
technique in Paris, founded in 1794. The Ecole Centrale followed, 
and during the first quarter of this century similar schools were 
established all over France, Switzerland and Germany. 

In this country, the best appointed and on the whole, the most 
worthy of study as far as methods go is the Military Academy at 
West Point ; then we have the Columbia School of Mines at New 
York, the Sheffield at New Haven, the Rensselaer at Troy, the 
Institute of Technology at Boston, the Stevens Institute at Hobo- 
ken and many others. These are examples of pure and inde- 
pendent schools of Technology, each with a special end of its own, 
but possessing all the generic features of the class. They all arose 
from the demand for engineers in the arts of peace and of war. 
To this list must be added the state colleges of agriculture and the 
mechanic arts, several of which have made provision for effective 
teaching in engineering. The polytechnic school has always 
offered to the qualified average boy a good education based on 



EOSE POLYTECHNICINSTITUTE. 47 

drawing, the mathematics, the living languages and the physical 
sciences, tending to qualify him for immediate entrance upon the 
duties of an engineer. The course of study in a polytechnic 
school is determined by long experience and in all countries is 
substantially the same. It includes 

Mathematics — Beginning with algebra and geometry, and pro- 
ceeding through trigonometr}^, analytical and descriptive geometry, 
the calculus, theoretical and applied mechanics. 

Physics — From the elements to the solution of problems, 
sometimes with laboratory practice. 

Chemistry- — With laboratory practice. 

Language — The elements of German and French, (English 
replacing one of these in European schools) and the mother-tongue. 
Drawing — Beginning with free hand and including perspective, 
orthographic and isometric projection, shades and shadows. 

Geology and mineralogy as far as time permits. The other 
natural history sciences are necessarily omitted, except in special 
cases. In all these schools the instruction is given with a strong 
practical bearing, and generally the students learn the manip- 
ulation of the instruments used in surveying, and the more impor- 
tant of those used in physical researches. 

It is necessary to remark at this point that technological 
schools do not include schools of design. There is a great interest 
in European countries and in the United States at the present 
time in what is called industrial art, meaning the study of form, 
color and ornament to renders tructures and manufactured goods 
intrinsically more beautiful, and to increase their value by this 
means. A department of drawing and design has a place in a 
school of technology, but engineering does not naturally include 
the work of a school of design. 

But polytechnic schools as they were did not meet all the 
wants of the new era. Practical men detected a lack in engineers 
who had been trained without actual contact with a machine 
shop— there was a surplus of theoretical engineers and a dearth of 
practically efficient ones. 

The principle of the division of labor resulted in making it 
next to impossible for a boy to find a place in any machine 
shop to learn the trade. The owner did not want him because it 
could not be in any way conducive to his business interests to 
employ a person ignorant of his business; and. if he employed 
him at all he kept him on a single sort of piece-work, from motives 



48 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

of self-interest. Trades Unions conspired to keep out apprentices 
from shops, and so it came to pass that a boy could not get a good 
working knowledge of machine-shop practice except by stealth. 

This demand for mechanical engineers with work-shop train- 
ing, and the practical impossibility of finding a place for a boy in 
any good machine shop, led to the establishment of a polytechnic 
school in which a manufacturing machine shop is a prominent and 
thoroughly administered feature. This is the school known as the 
Worcester Free Institute. 

This institution was organized under the influence of a belief 
that, after all that has been done in technology, there is still need 
of a system of training boys, broader and brighter than "learning 
a trade," and more simple and direct than the so-called " liberal 
education : " that while the boys should be thoroughly trained in 
all the essentials of a polytechnic course, they should also find a 
work-shop open where they could get all the essentials of a trade; 
so that upon graduating they should have sufficient knowledge of 
machinery and handicraft to enable them to earn a living while 
pushing their wa}^ up to the highest positions for which nature and 
their training had qualified them. It was held that not the least 
important of their qualifications for high positions is a good 
experience of the lower positions. 

" It is the undoubting opinion of the managers of the Insti- 
tute, and of all who have watched its operation, that the connec- 
tion of academic culture and the practical application of science 
is advantageous to both, in a school where these objects are started 
together and carried on with harmony and equal prominence. 
The academy inspires its intelligence into the work of the shop, 
and the shop with eyes open to the im.provements of productive 
industries prevents the monastic dreams and shortness of vision 
that sometimes paralyze the profound learning of the college." * 

This school was opened in 1868, with the following funda- 
mental ideas : 

1. That all mechanical engineers will find their account, in 
future, in going through a work-shop training. 

2. This work-shop instruction may precede, accompany or 
follow the intellectual training, but for many reasons it preferably 
accompanies it. 

3. The work-shop instruction is best given in a genuine 
manufacturing machine shop where work is done that is to be sold 

-Worcester Catalogue. P. 7. 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 49 

in open market and in unprotected competition with the products 
of other shops. 

4. That in a course of three and a half years, working 800 
hours the first half year and 500 hours a year thereafter, a boy 
beginning without any knowledge of mechanics can acquire skill 
enough to offer himself at graduation as a journeyman and will be 
found on trial not inferior to those who have spent the entire time 
of three and a half years in a regular machine shop. 

5. That the work-shop practice must be a part of every 
week's work in the institution; that it shall be momentarily 
supervised by skilful men, and that the student must not expect 
or receive any pecuniary advantage from it. 

6. That the question who shall be a superintendent or fore- 
man or engineer engaged in designing or drafting machinery can- 
not be settled in any school — that being a question to be deter- 
mined only by actual trial ; because the discipline of the judgment 
by actual practice into which personal responsibility enters is 
vitally essential to a valid claim to the post of superintendent. 
Hence, it will follow that, while all receive the preliminary train- 
ing requisite for engineering, many will not attain to it, but these 
will find a full reward for all .their time and labor in superior intel- 
ligence as workmen — in being masters and not servants of the 
machines which they make or run. 

7. A seventh principle was announced when the first class 
graduated, and has been inculcated into all their successors, viz : 
that the value of the education they have received will show 
itself in the rate of their advancement and will be easily detected 
by their employers, and that they should not be so much con- 
cerned, in seeking places, about great wages or high positions as 
about the chances ahead for advancement ; indeed there might be 
cases in which they could well afford to work a while for a bare 
subsistence, such would be the value of their experience. 

These principles have now been tested under as favorable 
conditions as could be desired for fourteen years, and this experi- 
ence all goes to confirm them. No valid objection has been urged 
and no adverse criticism worth a moment's attention has been 
heard. The expense attending the proper development of this 
plan is the only difficulty in the way of its general adoption ; 
but, within the brief period of its existence, the Worcester School 
has seen two great institutions founded on its plan, the Miller 
School in Virginia and the Rose School at Terre Haute. 



50 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

Now since the principles just recited are to be the regulating 
force in the organization of this school, some discussion of their 
grounds is in place. 

No argument is needed to prove that an engineer should have 
practical acquaintance with handicraft and with the machine shop 
in general. The great demand for men who have this qualification 
and the surplus of unemployed theoretical engineers, otherwise 
able and competent men who lack it shows that the point is well 
taken. The experience of the older countries sustains this view. 
It is found in Austria, so the Baron Von Eybesfeld (Minister of 
Public Instruction) told me, that there is a great excess of graduates 
of the polytechnic over the demand, and that he is now engaged 
in organizing a new kind of school in which workshop instruction 
shall form part of the course, so that the country may have some 
men for foremen and superintendents of works who are thoroughly 
versed in the practical details of machine-shop work. In carrying 
out this new policy, the latest phase, it will be noticed of techno- 
logy, the great Gewerbe Museum has been organized and put in 
charge of Dr. Exner, a strikingly competent and efficient man. 
He has started two totally ^distinct sorts of schools: the first is 
substantially a half-time school, in- which boys from the higher 
common schools work half the day and study the other half, 
receiving instruction according to the polytechnic plan as far as 
the time permits ; the course being two years, these boys do not 
receive as much instruction as the polytechnikers, but they 
have the immense advantage of practical power in the shop, 
which secures them a living and adds to their value. Every 
stroke of work in the shops is done with reference to the sale of 
the articles, and no fact was mentioned oftener, or with more 
evident satisfaction by Dr. Exner in proof of the solid excellence 
of the school than that they sold in the first year a thousand 
gulden worth of their work. It is intended to multiply these 
schools so that they shall provide a great variety of mechanical 
practice (the two now in operation being devoted wholly to wood 
working) and to extend the course to four years. When this has 
been done there will be in Vienna two schools in which all the 
principles of the Worcester Institute will be adopted and applied. 

The second line along which the Austrians are moving is in 
cultivating what are known as cottage industries ; this movement 
is so interesting that I shall venture to say something about it, 
though it is not immediately germane to our purpose. There is 



EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 51 

a marked tendency in Austria to concentrate population in large 
cities. The population of Vienna has grown from 800,000 to 
1,200,000 within ten or twelve years and other cities show a great 
increase; this has occurred without a corresponding increase in 
the total population ; the inference is that the growth of the cities 
is depopulating the villages — an unmistakable and alarming fact. 
Inquiry into the causes of this movement has brought out the fact 
that the, peasants of these villages have lost the market for their 
baskets and other wares because their Swiss and French neighbors, 
who have had abundant schools of industry, have devised new and 
more attractive forms for the same wares. The peasants of Austria 
were unable to compete because, through their ignorance of design, 
they were confined to the old and unsalable forms, and with the 
fatuous haste so often seen, crowd the cities in the vain hope of 
bettering their lot. Dr. Exner, under the general direction of the 
wise and acute Minister of Public Instruction, has started schools 
for baske't-weaving — by far the most important of these household 
industries. Half of the day is devoted to learning new and better 
ways of basket- weaving, and half to drawing and modeling in clay ; 
the result being that the pupils learn how to do the things that are 
now in demand and are clothed with power to design whatever 
forms the future may suggest. Anybody may attend these schools 
who chooses to come to Vienna ; for there only can a museum of 
examples be gathered sufficiently ample to enable the minister to 
multiply the schools so as to provide for other industries as well as 
basket-weaving. The hope is that the more intelligent young 
peasants will attend these schools and carry back to their villages 
the new ideas ; this being done, a check will be put upon the ten- 
dency of people to leave the villages, because they can again be 
prosperous and happy where they are. 

Upon the question whether workshop instruction should pre- 
cede,' accompany or follow the school training opinions differ, and 
a full discussion of the subject is impossible within the limits 
of this address. This subject occupied the attention of the Ameri- 
can Institute of mining engineers through two prolonged and 
intensely active sessions in 1876, and the results are embodied in a 
valuable pamphlet which presents the views of the ablest engineers 
in the country. I will briefly summarize the facts and motives 
which seem to leave us practically no alternative but to incorporate 
the shop practice with the school-work. Boys fitting for a poly- 
technic school cannot leave the preparatory school younger than 



52 EOSB POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

sixteen; if they are to get their shop-training before the polytech- 
nic, they must spend three years at it and at the end of the time 
they will be rather too old to get the best advantage of the school, 
and miss the all important opportunity of applying their theo- 
retical knowledge as they go along. 

If, on the other hand, boys defer the shop till after graduating, 
they will find many excuses for slighting it or for not doing it at 
all. At the age of twenty, with a good knowledge of 'drafting and 
well disciplined faculties, American boys would be far more likely 
to turn into draftsmen or to take their chances in business than to 
submit to the dull routine of elementary shop-practice. Theoreti- 
cally there is much to be said in favor of this plan, for it brings to 
the work-shop the trained powers of the school and makes the 
practice continuous. It is the plan of the Russians, in the Imperial 
Institute of Technology at St. Petersburg, certainly one of the 
best technological schools in the world, where the students, after 
a four years course in pure technology with the usual holidays and 
vacations, return on the first day of September and work in the 
machine shops till the first day of the following September, ten 
hours a day without vacations, and the results are very satisfac- 

ij i tory. But the Russians can carry out such a system because the 

I I government controls the positions to which the students aspire and 

' ' without which they must starve, and makes the fifth year of prac- 

tice compulsory. Very few who have had much experience in 
teaching American boys believe that such a plan could be success- 
fully adopted here. 

There are many solid, positive reasons in favor of incorpo- 
rating the shop-practice with the intellectual discipline. The 
period of a boy's life between sixteen and twenty-one is the period 
of sharp acquisition ; ideas taken then remain in a special sense a 
part of the mental furniture forever. Probably no one, whose 
course of education is uninterrupted, acquires as much as between 
the ages mentioned, or retains what he acquires as long. It is an 
interesting fact that the enthusiasm which an American boy 
cherishes for his college, an English boy feels for his school, where 
the training he most values was received. The American hurrahs 
for Yale or Harvard — the English for Eton or Rugby. The same 
would be true here were all our boys fitted for college at a few large 
schools and fitted as well. This being true, shop practice has an 
advantage it would otherwise lose in coming into this period. 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 53 

Again, a man whose matured and furnished mind has laid 
hold of the strong problems of theoretical mathematics in school, 
and who finds himself on the threshold of manhood does not 
bend himself with just the same ease as an ungraduate to the 
elements of machine-shop practice. There is some advantage, too, 
in beginning shop-life in periods of five hours semi-weekly over 
ten hours a dsij ; for less time proportionally is wasted. And 
finally, a great economy of the precious time of the students is 
secured because shop-work serves the double purpose of practice 
and of exercise. 

Why the school workshop should not be a shop in a complete 
sense and not a mechanical laboratory or some other device for 
escaping the hard but necessary discipline of a shop, has not yet 
been stated. There is a difficulty in meeting the first cost and 
inevitable annual deficit, but if any other valid objection has been 
made to the plan it has escaped my attention. It offers every 
advantage of every other form of school-shop, with immense addi- 
tions. 

The advantages of a shop in which actual construction is made 
to aid in instruction are numerous ; a few only can be mentioned. 
These boys are all hoping to be engineers, at least they may expect 
to become skilled workmen or draughtsmen. In any event the 
more the faculty of judgment is cultivated, and the more the 
boys realize the nature and extent of the difficulties that actual 
-practice presents, of which the best theoretical knowledge gives no 
hint, the nearer they are to attaining the end they seek. We have 
seen that no graduate of a school is an engineer, but is in the best 
way to become one. Why not advance him as far as possible? If 
now the student's comprehension of the principles of engineering 
is clear and his weekly practice enables him to see those principles 
in action under conditions as like as possible to those which he will 
meet in real life, his entrance upon the life of an engineer will be ah 
expansion of his school-lifej and not an abrupt transition from it to 
a new mode of life. The more his wo'rk is subjected to the inex- 
orable tests of business, and the more he feels in the use of his 
materials just the same responsibility that rests upon an actual 
workman, the better he is. He must make the things that are to 
be used and not those contrived to suit the peculiarities of his 
temperament, the exigencies of his situation or the mere purpose 
of instruction. There is nothing that a student needs to make in 



54 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

a school workshop from which he cannot gain something if he 
puts the article into its final serviceable form. 

Applying the stern test of serviceableness is the only way to 
know whether the things that have been made were worth the 
making or not, and is the only way to correct any tendency to 
visionary structure that is so apt to infect a school workshop, and 
to prevent that sublimation of common sense which is apt to 
ensue when responsibility for the correct use of costly materials is 
removed. 

There is no merit or charm in work, considered merely as 
work ; to work to produce something that some one else wants and 
cannot make for himself and is able to pay for is the stimulus of 
industry. All work in school-shops or any other will ultimately 
obey this law or else it will evaporate into exercise or sport. 

Workshops into which the principle of construction does not 
enter are liable to exalt the importance of the purely literary aspect 
of mechanical knowledge. It is possible to know the five hundred 
and seven mechanical movements, to know the best cutting angles 
of saws, files and edge tools and not be a mechanic or be in the way 
of becoming one. This kind of knowledge is useful and attractive 
and desirable when it is not offered as a substitute for the dexterity 
that can be. obtained only by the use of the tools. It will not do 
to regard our ancestors, the skilled mechanics, as fools. There is 
still but one way to learn to file and that is to file. The most 
expert filer I ever saw could not write his name. I do not think 
he could- have filed any better had this simple accomplishment 
been added to his merits; he would have been a better and a 
happier and more useful man with more knowledge, but he did 
that one thing as well as it could be done at that time. 

But this thought instantly suggests another of the greatest im- 
portance, viz: handicraft occupies a constantly narrowing place in 
the mechanic arts ; machinery a constantly widening one. Every 
year adds to the number of trades from which the machinist has 
driven the craftsman. It is clear then that no training of boys 
for the life of mechanics is complete which does not make them 
familiar with machinery and machine- construction. 

There is one demand sometimes made upon the school-shop 
which is unjust, namely, that it should pay its way. How can it 
pay its way when so large a part of its force is spent in teaching 
boys? If so many machine shops in this country, fitted up and 
managed with especial reference to money-making fail in business, 



EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 55 

or only make the ends meet by the most painful efforts, how can a 
shop one-half of whose effective force is spent in teaching boys, 
who cannot for the first half of their time produce anything salable, 
hope to pay its way ? Teaching in school-shops costs as teaching 
elsewhere costs. 

Many difficulties have been met and overcome, and many 
more which wore a threatening aspect ceased to be difficulties at 
all when the time came to deal with them. It is idle to spend 
time, therefore, in enumerating and discussing these difficulties. 
Those that remain are of trifling magnitude. It is better and more 
interesting to turn attention for a moment to another solution of 
this problem of technological education in the school at Moscow, 
in Russia, which was opened almost exactly at the same time 
as the Worcester school, and is now administered on the same 
general plan. I visited the school last October and will record a 
few observations upon it. The first room, into which I was 
shown by the superintendent of the shops, half the size of this 
chapel, was devoted to conferences with purchasers of machin- 
ery and would-be purchasers, who needed the aid of an engineer 
to design and draught machinery for special purposes; all the 
machinery thus designed is made in the school-shops. This room 
was filled with large drawing tables, on which lay working-draw- 
ings of machinery in various stages. The second room I saw was 
the engine room, where a twenty-horse engine was doing its best 
to drive the machinery of the shops, and later I saw a duplicate of ■ 
this engine, every part of which had been cast and finished in the 
school-shops. The third rooms were the machine-shops, smithy 
and foundry, where a hundred workmen are employed in the 
double duty of manufacturing, and instructing the students how to 
manufacture ; mingled with the workmen on that day were about 
sixty students. The fourth room was a store house in which was 
exhibited 60,000 roubles worth (S30,000) of machinery and ma- 
chine tools, being the result of one year's work, and just brought 
back from the annual exhibition of the Industries of Central 
Russia. An equal amount made during the previous year has 
been sold. The fifth rooms, were a series of smaller apartments in 
which, for convenience, the students begin their practice. The 
method of teaching them is this : each year about eighty boys 
are received at an average age of seventeen and a half years ; the 
course of study is six years, of thirty -two weeks in each year; for 
the first, second and third years, the boys all work in the shops 



56 , ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

fourteen hours a week, or 448 hours annually ; for the fourth, fifth 
and sixth years, ten and a half hours a week, or 336 hours 
annually, so that they work an aggregate of 1344 hours in the first 
three years and 1008 the second three ; the rest of their time is 
occupied with the ordinary curriculum of a polytechnic school. 
The practice of the first three years, or rather more than half of 
the whole is spent in preparing for that of the second three ; i. e. 
for the first half they do not attempt any manufacturing, and for 
the second half do not do anything else.* In these rooms the boys 
were filing, forging, sawing, turning, etc., each as fast and well as he 
could, all the boys in any one room being responsible to the fore- 
man of that room, whose duty it is to provide work for each boy 
and decide upon its quality. Each boy is pushed as far as possible 
in the time allotted to each room regardless of his matgs. The 
work done in these rooms is mainly thrown away, though some 
is saved for models. 

But the boys are just as much in need of direction and efficient 
skill when they emerge from the elementary shops as they were 
before, and it never occurs to the faculty that one of these boys is 
fit for any shop but their own until his course is completed, any 
more than an ordinary college faculty regard sophomores as ready 
to study theology. The boys in the elementary shops have free 
access to the manufacturing shops, see where every piece they are 
making fits and how it is used— they do everything in a manu- 
facturing atmosphere, and every boy who passes the requisite 
examinations, with very few exceptions, passes into the manufac- 
turing shops. The Moscow school-shop is a great manufacturing 
establishment and, if the manufacturing element were removed, the ' 
school would be either revolutionized or extinguished. The ele- 
mentary shops are a convenient, and for that school, serviceable 
and economical device for doing what all school work-shops must 
do, separating unsalable work from salable, and keeping apprentices 
at work by themselves though in full view. of and in full co-opera- 
tion with the manufacturing shops till they have skill enough to 
begin to do salable work. My conviction is, however, that the 
results are not what might be expected ; for the work done by these 
boys at the end of their first half year course, or after 1344 hours 
practice, does not compare favorably in excellence with that done 
by the boys at Worcester after their first half year, or 800 hours. 



* The Superintendent said that if one of the boys in the preparatory room made any- 
thing salable they did not hesitate to sell it. 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 57 

and candor compels me also to say that the work of the graduates 
at Moscow is at least not at all superior to that of the Worcester 
men.* The graduates of this school and of that at St. Petersburg 
compete for the same prizes and all obtain good positions in 
manufacturing establishments. 

Some statistics will show the thoroughness of the discipline of 
the school and the importance attached to it by the government. 
The government appropriates 250,000 roubles, or $125,000, annually 
to this school (and the same to St. Petersburg). The number of 
Professors is fifteen, of Lectors ten, all others three. The tuition 
is 150 roubles, or $75.00, a year. The floor space at Moscow is not 
less than 400,000 square feet — that of Worcester is 50,000. 

A set of plans of the building will soon be found in our library. 

It adds great force to Russian examples and precedents to 
know why we find their polytechnic schools of such rare and 
unsurpassed excellence. 

The popular impression of Russia does her great injustice. 
The educated Russians are a highly educated and accomplished 
people. Part of this intelligence is due to the intermixture of the 
German population, which began soon after the death of Catharine 
and has continued to the present time. Now, when the Russians 
began, about fifty years ago, to attend to the development of their 
internal resources in a scientific manner, they started in the most 
sensible way, by sending commissioners to study the systems of 
technological education of Western Europe. These men winnowed 
Europe for ideas. These ideas they carried to Russia and ex- 
panded into schools which surpass in completeness of equipment 
and affluence of resources all others in Europe, with the possible 
exception of the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris. They had the 
money to give German ideas of education an expansion and devel- 
opment of which the Germans, in their poverty, never dreamed. 
Russia is the lee shore upon which the choicest educational peb- 
bles may be gathered. In studying Russia one sees all European 
technological education epitomized. 

And since the notice of these inauguration exercises was 
printed I have news that the Imperial Institute of St. Petersburg 
has stretched her hand across the wide waters to give us a welcome 
into the fraternity. Notice has come that a box of examples of 



*The work done by the graduate-mechanics of St. Petersburg is especially interesting 
because it is evidence of the advantage of well-disciplined faculties in acquiring skill in 
handicraft. 



58 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

the work done there and a collection of drawings has been shipped 
as a present from one of the oldest to this, the youngest of the 
polytechnic schools. 

But I must hasten to complete this exposition of principles. 
The fourth fundamental at Worcester is that in a course of three 
and one-half years a boy, by working 800 hours the first half year 
and 500 hours a year thereafter, can gain as much dexterity and 
be as fit to offer his services as a journeyman as he would be had 
he worked three and one-half years steadily in a modern machine- 
shop. The experience of two hundred graduates of the Worcester 
school, and the opinions of the manufacturers in whose shops they 
have found employment, establish the fact. Some of the reasons 
for this somewhat paradoxical result are that in an ordinary 
machine shop a boy must spend his time in his employer's interest 
and not in his own, and only a small portion of that time is 
devoted to teaching him manipulation; in the school-shop the 
time is wholly used in teaching. Again, the student-apprentice is 
under daily training in school and comes to his work with alert 
faculties and acquisitive powers constantly growing stronger. This 
is especially true with reference to his weekly practice in free draw- 
ing, a study which tends to develop and train the sense of form 
and proportion, the very training that a mechanic most needs. 
And, again, the work of the student is done under the eye and 
with the ready assistance of a skilled workman whose duty it is to 
teach him, by precept and example, all he can learn. Meantime, 
while he has been getting his manual dexterity, our student- 
mechanic has obtained a good education. The remaining princi- 
ples require no further explanation. 

It will now be asked what may the graduates of this school 
be expected to do. To this I reply by reciting what the graduates 
of the Worcester school have done : Occupations of graduates — 

Partners in business firms 23 

"■^Superintendents 16 

Chief Engineers . 3 

Division Engineers ,....-.... 5 

Assistant Engineers '. 16 

Civil Engineers 20 

Draughtsmen .49 

* Mechanical Engineers 10 

* Machinists 13 



*Many of these are " Master Mechanics." 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC li^STlTUTJE. 59 

Foremen 8 

Teachers 17 

Chemists . . . ; 12 

Advanced Students 4 

Designers 5 

Others, mostly engaged in manufactures .45 

246 
Deceased 9 

Total , 255 

More than ninety-five per cent, of the graduates are engaged 
in occupations for which their training at the Institute specially 
prepared them. , 

In the Rose school the following modifications of the Worces- 
ter plan will be attempted : 

1. The course of study will be four years instead of three and 
a half 

2. The practice will be concentrated in the first year and 
diminished in the fourth, so as to allow time for more instruction 
in machine-design. 

3. While the same subjects will be taught, perhaps more 
attention will be given to the humanities. 

4. A different view will be taken here of the profession of 
civil engineering from the one usually held. The young men who 
propose to be civil engineers will spend a part of their practice 
time in the machine-shop. 

Civil engineering cannot easily be separated from mechanical, 
because the most important business of a civil engineer nowadays 
is not surveying and mapping but bridge and building-construc- 
tion, the setting of water-wheels and other engines, and such like 
undertakings which involve a knowledge of mechanics ; so that 
two or three of the best so-called civil engineers in the country 
have given it as their judgment that a course in mechanics includ- 
ing workshop instruction, is the best way to prepare for the prac- 
tice of civil engineering. 

But on the other hand, the building of new highways and . 
railroads still goes on and calls for a certain number of young men 
who are expert in the use of the transit and level (especially in 
railroad problems) who know how to draw and who understand 
mensuration ; hence, training for this sort of employment cannot 
be neglected in a polytechnic school. It would conduce to clear- 
ness to call such work Topographical engineering. 



GO ROSE POLYTECHNiC INSTITUTE. 

An added consideration of some weight in favor of retaining 
a distinct department of Topographical engineering is that many 
of the young men who frequent technological schools have no 
taste or aptitude for mechanical work, and some have not the 
requisite physical vigor for it, whose fitnfess for success in field- 
work or in mapping is unquestionable. But it will be clearly 
advantageous to all to have some workshop practice. No changes 
will be made except such as reason and a large experience show to 
be desirable and advantageous to the student. 

But a healthy child wants food. An adequate beginning must 
be sustained by continual contributions in order to good progress. 
We want the sympathy and patient consideration of the com: 
munity. We want books, apparatus and models constantly in 
excess of the resources of our funds. The example of our founder 
is worthy of attention and imitation. 

The machine-shop is ready ; a reference library will soon be on 
the shelves ; a cabinet of minerals is on hand ; ample models are 
ready for the proper equipment of rooms for drawing and design ; 
the bricks for a new building for a chemical laboratory are now 
lying in the yard ; apparatus for chemistry, physics and field work 
is in the building or provided for ; commodious recitation and lec- 
ture rooms are ready when wanted. 

I hope also, in course of time, to collect models and exam- 
ples of the best mechanical devices, and also of leading manufac- 
tures. These collections of models play a very important part in 
European technological schools, and for obvious reasons. Indeed, 
the outlay in some cases is enormous and would be insupportable 
did not manufacturers find their account in placing here examples 
of their best work. At Chemnitz I saw two good examples of this 
class : one a perfect working model of the Hartman locomotive, 
which cost $3,000, and the other a large working model of the 
Merkel stationary engine, worth 1250 — each presented by the man- 
ufacturer. 

In order to any effective use of these resources two things are 
vitally requisite : good teaching before the students enter the Insti- 
tute and good teaching afterward. It is on the whole, a mistake to 
suppose that fitting for the polytechnic is essentially different from 
fitting for any other form of manly labor in this world which 
depends upon a sound, instructed brain. Technically, boys will 
be examined for the present in English grammar, geography, 
United States history, arithmetic, and algebra as far as quadratic 



HOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITtJTE. 61 

equations ; but these are the essentials of any success at all in the 
polytechnic; the more a boy knows before he comes the broader 
and deeper his success will be. The polytechnic is a professional 
school and must concentrate itself upon its own special work ; but 
the broader the base on which it builds, the more massive the 
structure that can be reared. Whether the polytechnic course 
shall rear an obelisk or a pyramid depends on the preparation of 
its students. 

Men are born as ignorant as they ever were and the same 
steps from ignorance to the elements of all knowledge must be 
taken b}^ every one. This work usually occupies the first fifteen 
or sixteen years of every human life. 

It is very desirable that every boy who presents himself for 
admission here should have at least a full high school course ; if 
he cannot get that, let him make the closest possible approach to it. 
Youth once passed, the opportunity for acquiring the rudiments 
of knowledge is usually gone forever. And eye hath not seen nor 
ear heard a sadder thing than the lament of a man who, amid the 
emergencies of life, suddenly confronts his need of some simple 
knowledge which he might have got for the asking in his youth. 

The greatest solicitude will be ever cherished here about the 
quality of the teaching. It is not intended that students shall find 
more assiduous or competent teaching in the various branches of 
the course than will be constantly found in this institute. 

But there is one peril and annoyance to which the new poly- 
technic is subject : handicraft in school never having been used 
before except for reformatory purposes, the impression gets abroad 
that the institution must lower its intellectual standing to raise the 
handicraft. I do not know an institution in this country except 
West Point where boys achieve as much good work or are better 
prepared intellectually for efiective service as engineers than they 
are at Worcester. We propose to give the same training here. 

If what has now been said seems to have a too exclusive 
bearing upon the study and practice of mechanics it is because this 
is the leading department, and presents the only novel and difficult 
features of our enterprise; but there will be departments of civil 
engineering, physics, chemistry, and design organized on the same 
general plan; the studies will be the same in all departments — the 
practice different according to the purpose for which it is intended. 
These departments naturally group themselves; for chemistry, 
physics, and drawing must be tavight to mechanics, and the addi- 



62 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

tional expense required to give practice in each of these depart- 
ments to those who prefer it to mechanical practice is very small. 
The outlay required for civil engineering practice is justified by 
the demand. 

Later in our enterprise a department of Mining Engineering 
may be organized; and in the department of physics special 
attention will be given to electrical engineering. All this will 
come about in due time. It will be observed however that only 
one kind of practice can be profitably taken by any student, during 
the course. Full particulars in regard to all these matters will be 
seasonably given. 

If this account of the origin and method of the technological 
school be correct, it is obvious that it is no longer an experiment, 
that it fills a gap, that it is a natural, inevitable, every way desir- 
able and welcome concomitant of modern civilization. It does for 
the industrial arts what the colleges have so well done for the 
learned professions by fitting men in a carefully planned course of 
study for the intelligent discharge of their duties. 

The polytechnic seeks to work as an ally of the old classical 
college, and hopes that her old friend may find something to her 
advantage in studying the economy of force which prevails in the 
methods and results of the new comer. The polytechnic does not 
sustain any organic relation to the college such as the academy has 
on the one hand and the professional school on the other ; yet in a 
deeper sense it sustains a very important relation to it. Whatever 
tends to increase or foster the desire for knowledge tends at once 
to foster all institutions whose object is to promote knowledge. 
Every new institution tends to increase the interest in the old — 
provided the old are worthy. Of course, I do not mean by " new 
institutions" repetitions of old types, such as the multiplication 
of small colleges, for this is generally an evil rather than a good, 
(except in new States), but I mean new institutions, like polytech- 
nic schools, that strike their roots into new soils and make what 
was once a desert blossom as the rose. 

Technical schools have not affected the colleges unfavorably 
in the matter of attendance ; for in spite of the crowds that have 
flocked to their doors, the classes in the colleges have steadily 
increased. More new colleges have been founded during the period 
of the rise of polytechnic schools in this country than in any sim- 
ilar period before; the old colleges have received munificent in- 
crease of their resources and have more than held their own in , 



EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 63 

the matter of attendance, and all the students attending the state 
universities in the course of Liberal Arts may be reckoned as a 
solid addition to the ranks of the college. 

For obvious reasons the polytechnic school flourishes best 
when separate and distinct from the college; but the more it 
flourishes the more it will directly benefit the college by providing 
for the instruction of the youth who demand the so-called " prac- 
tical courses" and thus leave the college free to pursue her own 
legitimate work. Towards all forms of knowledge technology is 
hospitable, and towards all who know, engineers are affectionate. 
The study of science in a te_achable and reverent spirit does not 
beget intolerance or bigotry. Science inculcates hatred of pre- 
tense, and is intolerant of dogmatism ; but mindful of the counsel 
of her greatest disciple, she utters the solemn words of Bacon : 

"This also we humbly beg that human beings may not preju- 
dice such as are divine, neither that from the unlocking of the 
gates of sense, and the kindling of a greater light, anything of 
incredulity or intellectual night may arise in our mind toward 
Divine mysteries." 

The day has forever passed when the old idea that the study 
of Latin, Greek and the humanities is the only education. The 
definition of an educated man will bear still more expansion, but 
it has broadened rapidly, during the last quarter century. *"The 
vulgar argument that a study of the classics is necessary to make 
a gentleman is beneath contempt. Honor and gentleness are not a 
dye or a lacquer, but warp and woof It is true that a certain 
social considerattion attaches to persons who are supposed to know 
Latin and Greek, whether they are gentlemen or not;" but society 
is rapidly adapting itself to the new era in which men and women 
are to be taken for what they are and not what they are said 
to be. 

It is an unique and interesting fact that most of the poly- 
technic schools have been founded and endowed by private bene- 
factors. The colleges, seminaries and academies have depended at 
times upon legislative fostering. Hardly a session of a State legis- 
lature passed prior to 1873 without considering some bill in aid of 
an educational institution. But the strong point about polytechnic 
schools is that the enormous expense of founding and administer- 
ing them has been provided in most cases by individual citizens 
who knew their value. The Ecole Centrale in Paris, next to the 



* President Eliot. 



64 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

Polytechnique the best in France, was the joint product of the 
brains of Dumas, Pictet and Ollivier and the pocket of their friend 
Lavallee, who paid all the expense of starting and running the 
school for five years, and at the end of that time presented it to the 
government. In this country Lawrence at Cambridge, Van 
Rensselaer at Troy, Sheffield at New Haven, Stevens at Hoboken, 
Boynton, Washburn and Salisbury at Worcester, Rose at Terre 
Haute, Case at Cleveland and many others have said in tones 
which many generations will hear what they think of the value 
and importance of technical education, and have made the State 
the recipient and not the nurse of their bounty. 

In the city of Glasgow, nothing impresses a traveler more 
amid all its teeming industries than two monuments, one of great 
height and majesty to John Knox, the other a simple tablet in the 
wall of the cathedral to the memory of George Bailey who found- 
ed unsectarian schools and libraries for the operative classes. 

The city of Terre Haute will cherish none of her treasures 
longer than the memory of her princely benefactor; but her 
choicest heritage is the inalienable right to put upon his monu- 
ment with a change of name the inscription which can be read 
at the grave of Copernicus in Warschau : 

To Chauncey Rose, our Fellow Citizen. 



President Thompson's inaugural being concluded, President Collett 
called upon Dr. Barnabas C. Hobbs, a former member of the Board of 
Managers, and how a trustee of the State Normal School, who thus re- 
sponded : 

DR. HOBBS'S REMARKS. 

About eight years ago I became personally acquainted with 
Chauncey Rose by accepting an invitation to make his house my 
home, while attending a State Educational Association. During a 
breakfast conversation my bachelor host stated that his friends had 
been advising him to get a wife, and turning to me said, jocosely, 
" What do you think about it ? " I answered that " Men some- 
times had an unwritten history, and until I knew his I did not 
think it well to give him any advice." He thoughtfully remarked, 
" You are right, sir, I have an unwritten history." 

I saw from his manner he had sympathies the world knew not 
of, and that he was not an enemy to woman. Sometime after this, 
on the occasion of another visit, he told me how anxious he was to 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 65 

use the means at his disposal in a way that would do the most 
good. He had been a successful business man, and everything he 
had undertaken seemed to have been a success. He asked me 
what I thought he had best do. I told him I thought no invest- 
ment would pay better than one paying the expenses of deserving 
young women in the Normal School. Women had a hard time in 
finding profitable employments, and teaching was exactly suited 
to their condition in life. He was pleased with the suggestion and 
authorized me to select one dozen, then fourteen, then he increased 
the number to twenty, William A. Jones, President of the State 
Normal School, was my aid. We chose, chiefly, such as promised 
well but were not able to complete the course without aid. 

In time I suggested to him the desirability of securing a 
building for a boarding house, which with furnishing would not 
cost more than 120,000, and giving an endowment of $100,000, in 
aid of deserving young ladies who could not pay their way. He 
acceded to the proposition on condition that the State should pay 
one-half the cost of the building, and authorized the Board of 
Trustees to say that much to the Governor and State Legislature in 
their next report. It turned out that no official notice was taken 
of this proposition, unless it was a paragraph in the Governor's 
message. He became disgusted with their lack of appreciation 
and his mind underwent a change. 

When I next saw him he told me had lost faith in public 
officers and politicians. Changes in parties imperiled finances and 
he did not want to leave his money in the control of State authori- 
ties or trustees. He preferred private incorporations who are 
empowered with self-perpetuity. He had been thinking much 
about business men who are good workmen, but can not prepare 
their estimates, drawings and specifications and have to be run- 
ning to lawyers and architects. If he could do something for 
them he would like to do so. I informed him what he wanted 
was a polytechnic school. I had visited several in the East, and 
especially one at Worcester, Mass., which gave a full and complete 
scientific training to boys, practically fitting them for business 
men; and if he desired me I would write to Prof. Thompson for 
some reports which would give him a correct idea of the purpose 
and working of such an institution. After examination of these 
his mind fully settled on the endowment of a polytechnic school 
and on the erection of a building. His will was then made,_ speci- 
fying his bequest, which he read to me. I think very ikely 



66 EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

Josephus Collett, the presiding officer of the Board, whose head is 
ever full of practical ideas, had also a leading part in formulating 
his thoughts and purposes. 

A Board of Trustees was chosen, a Constitution and By-Laws 
drawn up, an organization completed and a seal approved and 
ordered to be made, Chauncey Rose being President of the Board. 
An occurrence created no little amusement when it was discovered 
that nearly all the Board were bachelors. We must not, however, 
reflect on them. I well remember finding a very worthy old 
gentleman in England, who had jiever been married, in a good 
comfortable home with a hired housekeeper. I deprecated his lot 
in a conversation with an estimable lady. " Oh," she said, " I 
presume he is not to blame for it.' " Our fortunes are not all 
alike in life. The poet Whittier tells us of the sweet little girl 
who hated to go above him in the spelling class at school, over 
whose beautiful form the grass has been growing for more than, 
forty years. No, do not reflect upon bachelors. How do we know 
but that more of them are preparing to make further endowment 
bequests to polytechnic schools. 

At the suggestion of Chauncey Rose, while I was in New 
England, I was requested to inquire of Prof Thompson for some 
talented student who had passed under his training and who had 
skill and fitness for such a place. When that result was almost 
achieved there was a suspension of operations by the death of 
Chauncey Rose. 

When an advance movement was resumed, I was agreeably 
surprised to find that, like Miles Standish's courtship, the Board 
instead of taking the man President Thompson had recommended 
took the President himself, and it now so turns out that we have 
for the Rose Polytechnic Institute the leading educator in technical 
science in America to give it rank among the best in the world. 

I desire before I close to say that we ought not to stop in this 
enterprise where we are. The girls need polytechnic schools as 
well as the boys. They need to know how to cook scientifically. 
There is scientific taste and method in good ventilation, neatness. 
Health and science are co-ordinates of a system. Every girl 
should know how to cut and make her own dresses. Indeed, I 
question whether a young lady should be allowed to marry if she 
could not stand a successful examination on these subjects. 

You may have seen a notice of some French ladies who had 
lately been inspecting schools in America, and had been at Vassar 



EOSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 67 

and inquired of the young ladies what attention they gave to 
cooking, and housekeeping, and cutting and making. " None," 
was their answer, " We have domestics to do such things." The 
visitors laughed outright at the absurdity of young housewives 
superintending cooking, housekeeping and seamstresses when they 
are unacquainted with the work they are doing. 

Let us hope and look for the day when our girls will be able 
wisely and intelligently to attend to the kitchen and household 
interests and to cut and make their own dresses. We need profes- 
sional scientific schools for girls as well as for the boys for the 
completeness of an educational system. 



After music by the orchestra, Rev. Mr. Croft pronounced the benedic- 
tion and the audience dispersed. 



On the 23d of March, the managers were called to deplore the death of 
their friend and associate, Gen. Charles Cruft. Identified with the Institute 
from its inception, General Cruft had been one of its most efficient and 
enthusiastic officers, and had given to its organization and development the 
benefit of his untiring efforts, his accomplished and comprehensive scholar- 
ship and his sound practical judgment. He had been especially active as a 
member of the building committee and as chairman of the committee on 
the library ; in both of which positions, and indeed in every other relation 
of his managership, he had contributed services of inestimable value. 



March 24th, Mr. William A. Jones resigned his membership in the 
Board on account of his contemplated removal from the State. The resig- 
nation was accepted. Mr. Jones' long experience as a teacher and organizer 
of schools, and his wide reputation as a distinguished President of the State 
Normal School, had rendered his connection with the Board remarkably 
helpful. His fellow members accepted his resignation and parted from him 
and his pregnant suggestions with particular regret. 

At a meeting held on the 31st of March, Hon. R. W. Thompson and 
Mr. William C. Ball, were elected to fill the vacancies occasioned by the 
resignation of President Jones and the death of General Cruft. 



FIRST 



ANNUAL CATALOGUE 



Rose Polytechiic Iistitute 



PLAN OF INSTRUCTION. 



1883. 



BOARD OF MANAGERS. 



JOSEPHUS COLLETT, ESQ., President. 

CHAELES R. PEDDLE, M. E., Vice-President. 

SAMUEL S. EARLY, A. M., Secretary, 

DEMAS DEMING, ESQ., Treasurer. 

FIRMIN NIPPERT, ESQ. 

HON. WILLIAM MACK. 

ROBERT S. COX, ESQ. 

PRESTON HUSSEY, ESQ. 

HON. RICHARD W. THOMPSON. LL.D. 

WILLIAM C. BALL, A. M. 



FACULTY OF INSTRUCTION, 



CHAELES O. THOMPSON, A. M., Ph. D., 

Late Principal of the Free Institute of Industrial Science, Worcester, Mass., 
President. 

CHARLES A. COLTON, E. M., 

Late Assistant to the Professor of Mineralogy in the School of Mines, 

Columbia College, New York, Professor of Chemistry. 

EDWARD BARNES, B. S., 

Graduate Student of Johns Hopkins University, Professor of the Higher 

Mathematics. 

CLARENCE A. WALDO, A. M. 

Late Assistant Professor of Mathematics, in Wesleyan University, Middle- 
town, Conn., Professor of Elementary Mathematics and Librarian. 

JAMES A. WICKERSHAM, A. M., 
Late Instructor in Kansas University, Professor of Languages. 



f Professor of Physics and Theoretical Mechanics. 

f Professor of Engineering. 

EDWARD S. COBB, B. S., 
Late Assistant Superintendent of the American Paper Bag Company, Bos- 
ton, Superintendent of Machine Shop. 

WILLIAM L. AMES, B. S. 
Late Student at Cincinnati School of Design, Professor of Drawing. 



fTo be appointed. 



THE ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 



This Technical School, founded by the late Chauncey Rose, of 
Terre Haute, Indiana, is now open for the instruction of young 
men in technology. 

In accordance with the directions of the founder, the Institute 
offers a good education based on the mathematics, physical sci- 
ences, living languages and drawing, and familiarity with some 
form of applied science or handicraft. The course of study is so 
planned that every student spends a fixed portion of his time in 
learning the elements of the business or * profession that he designs 
to pursue after graduating ; this part of his work is called practice. 

Recitations, lectures, laboratory work and drawing are of 
uniform kind and amount for all students; exercises in practice 
are widely different, depending upon the department selected by 
the student. The general course of study does not differ essen- 
tially from that pursued in other Polytechnic Schools. The prac- 
tice is offered in the following departments : Mechanics, Civil 
Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Drawing and Design. The choice 
of a department is made by each student soon after entering, under 
the advice of the faculty. A department of Mining Engineering 
will be. organized as soon as possible and duly announced. 

APPARATUS FOR INSTRUCTION. 

Recitation-rooms, lecture-rooms, laboratories and drawing- 
rooms are ready, ample supplies of models, plates, and laboratory 
equipments having been purchased. Field instruments for the use 
of Civil Engineers have also been provided. 

A cabinet of minerals containing 5,000 specimens carefully 
arranged to facilitate the study of geology and mineralogy, is dis- 
played in a room convenient for use. 

A library of 5,000 volumes, selected with especial reference to 
the wants of students of technology, but not destitute of works of 
standard literature, is on the shelves and will be increased as 
occasion demands. 



74 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

In the shop is an assemblage of rooms in which iron and 
wood-working tools and machinery, arranged with reference to 
instruction by means of construction, are provided for the use of 
students. The wood room, boiler and engine rooms are in order; 
the iron room and forge shop will be in order before September 1, 
1883, as all the requisite tools are now under contract ; so that 
students in mechanics will enjoy the advantage of practicing in a 
large, well-lighted, manufacturing machine shop, which is equip- 
ped with the best modern tools and machinery. All products of 
the shop will be made for sale, and the labor of the students will 
be supplemented by that of skilled journeymen, who will finish 
the work under the inspection and for the instruction of pupils; 
the latter will thus be surrounded by the influcDces of actual busi- 
ness and under the incentive of emulation with practiced handi- 
craft. In the equipment of the machine shop the sum of nearly 
$30,000 has been expended. 

Plans for a new building to be devoted to the uses of a 
chemical laboratory have been submitted to the trustees and the 
work will be begun early in the autumn. Ample provision has 
been made for the study of physics according to the most approved 
modern ideas. 

COURSE OF STUDY. 

The course of study occupies four years, and the work is 
arranged as follows : 

(The figures indicate hours per week.) 

Freshman Class : — Free Drawing, 6; Mathematics, 7; Practice, 
25 ; Private Study, 14. Total, 52. 

Sophomore Class : — Free Drawing, 2 ; Mechanical Drawing, 6 ; . 
Mathematics, 6 ; Language 4 ; Chemistry and Physics, 4 ; Practice, 
10; Private Study, 20. Total, 52. 

Junior Class: — Mechanical Drawing 6; Mathematics and 
Theoretical Mechanics, 4; Language 4; Chemistry and Physics, 4; 
Practice, 10 ; Private Study, 24. Total, 52. 

Senior Class: — Mathematics, 5; Language and Ethics, 5; 
Physics, 3 ; Chemistry, 1 ; Engineering, 3 ; Practice, 10 ; Private 
Study, 25. Total, 52. 

In this course the term Mathematics includes algebra, geometry, 
trigonometry, analytical and descriptive geometry, the calculus, 
theoretical and applied mechanics; Physics, heat, light and elec- 
tricity, each abundantly illustrated; Chemistry, the study of the 



ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 75 

elements, the use of the blow-pipe and the outlines of wet anal3^sis ; 
Drawing^ free hand work, perspective, orthographic and isometric 
projection, shades and shadows, and the construction of working 
drawings of machinery ; Language, the German language, the Eng- 
lish language and the elements of French. 

In addition to the general studies now enumerated, lectures 
are given in geology. Exercises in determinative mineralogy are 
included in the chemical instruction. 

Only such changes will be made in this course as experience 
may show to be desirable. Students pass from class to class only 
by passing the term examinations. 

The practice of the students in chemistry and physics will be 
in the laboratories, of the civil engineers in the field and drawing- 
room, of the designers in the drawing-room, and of the mechanics 
in the work-shop ; but, in order to give the civil engineers some 
knowledge of tools, their practice will be in the workshops for the 
first two terms of the Freshman year. 

In short, it is the intention of the managers and faculty that 
nothing shall be lacking to give the students of the Rose Polytech- 
nic facilities not surpassed in this country for acquiring a sound 
technological training. 

ADMISSION. 

Candidates for admission to the Freshman class must be at 
least sixteen years old, present certificates of good standing and 
pass examination in the following branches, viz : English Gram- 
mar, History of the United States, Geography, Arithmetic, and 
Algebra to Quadratic Equations. The entrance examination will 
take place on Tuesday, September 18, 1883, at half-past eight 
o'clock A. M., at the office of the President. At the same time and 
place, candidates for the Sophomore and Junior classes will be 
examined and must give evidence of fitness to join the desired 
class. The Senior class will not be organized till September, 1884. 

TERMS AND VACATIONS. 

The first term of 14 weeks begins September 18, and closes 
December 23, 1883 ; the second term of 13 weeks begins January 2, 
1884, and closes March 30, 1884; the third term of 12 weeks begins 
April 9, 1884, and closes June 29, 1884. Vacations of one week 



76 ROSE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

each occur after the first and second terms respectively, and of 
eleven weeks after the third term. 

EXAMINATIONS. 

All students are examined at least twice a year on the work of 
the year, and the result of these examinations determines their 
standing. 

TUITION. 

No charge for tuition is made to bona fide residents of Vigo 
County, Indiana. All others pay seventy-five dollars each per 
year. Every student, of whatever place of residence, pays an 
annual fee of twenty-five dollars for use of chemicals, breakage 
and contingencies. All bills for tuition and incidentals are 
payable in advance on the first day of each term. 

BOARD. 

No arrangements for board are made at the Institute. Stu- 
dents find excellent accommodations in private families at prices 
ranging from $4.00 to $5.00 per week. 

All students who intend to apply for examination should make 
application in writing. *Letters seeking information about the 
Rose Polytechnic Institute, should be addressed to 

PRES'T. CHARLES O. THOMPSON, 

Terre Haute, Indiana. 



'■■"Until September 1st inquiries should be addressed to Samuel S. Early, Secretary,, 
after that date to Pres't. Thompson. 



STUDENTS. 



* li 'ir^iEssiis^^iisr 


OLJ^SS. 


M. 


Department of Mechanics. 


Oscar Baur, 


M. 




. 




Terre Haute. 


Charles C. Brokaw, 


M. 








Terre Haute. 


John T. Chapple, 


M. 








Terre Haute. 


William H. Coburn, 


M. 








Indianapolis. 


John D. Collett, 


M. 








Newport. 


Andrew L. Du Puy, 


M. 








Louisville, Ky. 


Edward C. Elder, 


M. 








Indianapolis. 


Herbert W. Foltz, 


M. 








Indianapolis. 


Arthur W. Hedges, 


M. 








Clinton. 


Clarence Laird, 


M. 








Rockport. 


Wesley C. Mastekson 


, M. 








Terre Haute. 


William H. McKeen, 


M. 








Terre Haute. 


Frank B. Miller, 


M. 


- 






Terre Haute. 


Charles Paddock, 


M. 


- 






Terre Haute. 


George W. Parker, 


M. 








Terre Haute. 


Clark S. Rigby, 


M. 








Brazil. 


Charles M. C. Sames, 


M. 








Rockford, 111. 


Davy P. Sanderson, 


M. 








Marshall, 111. 


Charles E. Scott, 


M. 








Terre Haute. 


James R. Seath, 


M. 








Terre Haute. 


Will H. Shrader, 


M. 




- 




Terre Haute. 


Edward H. Smith, 


M. 




- 




South Hadley, Mass. 


LuciEN M. Sullivan, 


M. 




- 




Indianapolis. 


Edward C. Thurston, 


M. 




- 


- 


Indianapolis. 


Adolph Weiss, 


M. 




- 


- 


Charleston, 111. 



*This class, admitted March 6, 1883, with accessions from the September examination, 
will form the Sophomore class in 1883-84. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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